Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena
by SMILEzxc
Summary: my version of MOA. -discontinued-
1. I Annabeth

I

ANNABETH

**ANNABETH'S HEART POUNDED IN HER EARS**. Stupid prophecy. Stupid boyfriend. Stupid Hera, Juno, whatever. Stupid prophecy that made Hera/Juno decide that she should take Percy away for 8 months. 8 months away from camp. From his life. From Annabeth.

She should be enraged with Hera, cursing her non-stop till her throat went dry. But all she could think about was how she looked. Will it make Percy remember her? She stomped her foot in frustration. Stupid Hera for taking away her boyfriend's memory. 2 months of dating then _poof!_ stupid Hera abducted him. She forced herself to take deep breaths. She had already talked about this with Piper. Being mad at the Queen of Olympus was not going to help.

She had other things to think about. Like Percy. Once she saw Percy, she was to give him a smack and a kiss. Not necessarily in that order. Thinking about Percy masked the anxiety that was churning inside her. Anxiety that the Romans would mistake them as enemies and fire at them. She hoped the video scroll that Leo had sent a while age had done its job.

"Ten minutes!" Leo yelled through the speakerphone. Annabeth didn't understand why he needed a speakerphone. He's voice was already loud enough.

Annabeth ignored her buzzing ears and leaned over the deck to see if she could catch a view of the camp yet. Indeed, Leo and the rest of the Hephaestus cabin had done a wonderful job in building the ship. Mostly Leo. This ship was the apple of his eye.

Finally, a view came into sight as Jason manipulated the clouds to clear away. The camp was impressive, just as nice as Camp Half-Blood, if not better. As they flew in from Berkeley Hills, Annabeth saw a miniature version of Rome, New Rome, Jason had said. A Coliseum, the senate's house and the Forum, where Leo had planned to land the ship. Annabeth mentally applauded herself on reading up on Roman civilisation beforehand. A little further away lay 4 temples. There might be more, but they too far away to see.

Over the Aqueduct lay a huge field that looked like it was used for battles. The Field of Mars, Annabeth remembered Jason telling them about the camp when his memory had mostly returned. A little further away from the field, nearer to the back entrance at Caldecott Tunnel, were the barracks, the baths, the praetors' houses and the_ what is it called_? Oh yeah, the _Via Principalis_. According to Annabeth's dreams the past few nights, Percy was now a praetor after defeating the giant Polybotes, bane of Poseidon/Neptune, and was given a praetor's house. Next to Reyna's. Jason's sort of, supposedly girlfriend. At least according to Jason's memory, they supposedly were a little more than friends, but before they could form a romantic relationship, Jason went off to Camp Half-Blood. Meaning that Reyna still likes Jason. But if that was so, why did Annabeth see Reyna flirting with Percy in her dreams?

Another thing was that that Reyna girl looked so familiar. Did Percy think she was familiar too? Did he think that she was his girlfriend instead of Annabeth? Stop it! She chided herself. She was just making herself miserable. Instead she focused on sympathising with Piper. Poor Piper was going to be so upset that Jason remembered someone who he might have dated. In fact, Annabeth was the only one to know about Reyna. Jason hasn't told anyone else, but it would be a matter of time before someone else found out. Someone like Piper.

They got closer to the camp and suddenly Annabeth felt more anxious. Partly because of Percy. Partly because there were over 200 Romans armed and prepared for battle, waiting for them. Two figures stood at the front. A girl and a boy. That girl was most probably that familiar-looking Reyna girl, with two metal hounds on either side.

The sight of the boy made Annabeth grin uncontrollably. Not because he was the only one among the Romans that didn't have his sword drawn. Nope, not that. As the ship started to descend, Annabeth's heart pounded a confirmation of who it was.

Percy.


	2. II Annabeth

II

ANNABETH

**ANNABETH FELT ABRUPTLY SELF-CONSCIOUS** as the four of them walked down the gangplank. Mostly because there were almost 200 pairs of eyes were staring at them and the ship they'd just brought in. Reyna's eyes were on Jason. Percy's eyes were on Annabeth. A blush came up to her cheeks unknowingly.

He wasn't wearing what Annabeth thought he would be wearing. Instead he was clad in a toga. He looked awkward and uncomfortable in it. Annabeth felt like smacking him for being so irresistibly cute in that stupid toga.

Finally Reyna stepped forward and examined all of them warily. She cleared her throat.

"Well, it seems you four won't be causing much trouble in your arrival. That is good." She turned to face the Romans and had to raise her voice to get the message across.

"Romans, our new... friends have brought back your old praetor, Jason Grace, son of Jupiter. Percy Jackson, your newly elected praetor, seems to be telling the truth-"

"How can we be sure? They only arrived for a few minutes! This is based on first impressions!" A blond-haired dude in a blue toga interrupted. Reyna shot him daggers.

"Not now, Octavian. We must show our new_ friends _around. Percy Jackson, take care of them. Show them Hazel and Frank too, to get them acquainted. After that, may I see all of you at the _Via Principalis." _ She posed it like a command, and looked at Percy. He nodded, but anyone who oblivious to the huge smile on his face had to be blind. He looked just like a little puppy, willing to do whatever his master wanted as long as he could have his walk.

Reyna must have noticed that too. She furrowed her eyebrows, then to everyone else she said, "Dismissed."

That must have been sort of like a signal. Because the second Reyna said the word, Percy looked like he was about to burst from all the energy he was keeping inside. And he did. He rushed toward Annabeth as the Romans started to leave. He lifted her in the air, surprising Annabeth. His lips found hers as he caught her. His arms circled and lay on her waist. Her hands moved up his chest on his toga.

Just like that. The Romans that had been walking away slowly came back. Cause who doesn't want to watch their praetor kiss his girlfriend? Annabeth couldn't care less about embarrassing herself. She could worry about them later. All she could think about now were Percy's hands on her hips, and when he parted his mouth she wanted more. Enough to make her disappear. Enough to-

Someone made a coughing sound. Leo. "I hate to break up this love fest, but everyone is watching you two." He spoke from the side of his mouth. They stopped kissing, but their hands haven't move. Annabeth knew her cheeks were flushed, and Percy had a wide grin on his face.

"Hey, Wise Girl. I miss you." He said softly, slowly untangling his arms. Annabeth felt like saying _I miss you too_, but she couldn't find her voice.

"So...Percy, is this uh, Annabeth?" A chubby boy with a military style haircut asked awkwardly. A younger, dark skinned girl nudged him with a smile. "Don't be so insensitive, Frank."

She turned to Annabeth and said, "Sorry. You must be Annabeth. Percy mentioned you. Quite a few times actually." At this point Percy went red. He was still holding Annabeth's hand.

Annabeth felt like she should say something to Jason, Piper and Leo.

"Guys, this is Percy. Percy, this is Jason, Piper and Leo." She then stretched out her hand to shake hands with the girl and the boy. "And yes, I'm Annabeth."

The girl smiled. "I'm Hazel. This is Frank." She waved a hand at Jason. "Great to see you again praetor."

Jason smiled gratefully. Maybe this wasn't what he expected to happen when he came back. So at least Hazel was being nice to him.

Percy spoke up. "So, we should give you a tour, sort of excluding Jason, then we'll go see Reyna."

The rest of them nodded.

Percy gave the briefest tour ever like he just wanted to get it over with. The whole time he held Annabeth's hand, as if he were afraid she would disappear. He talked to Jason too, discussing stuff. Hazel and Frank tagged along. Piper looked around warily. And Leo commented on everything that they saw.

Finally, when they stopped at the barracks, Percy turned around and said, "So...basically the tour is over, and if you don't mind..." Jason at this point smiled. Percy snapped his hand towards Hazel and Frank, and made a pleading gesture.

"Show them the rest of the camp without me? I need some alone time. Please? Pretty pretty please?"

Frank made a mocking salute and Hazel shook her head, though she was smiling. "Yes, sir, praetor."

"Yes!" At this point Percy punched the air. Then he started dragging Annabeth to the barracks of the Fifth cohort.

"Have fun you two" Piper laughed, waved at Annabeth, then walked away. Leo pulled a face at them before following Piper.

"Where are we going?" Annabeth couldn't help but laugh. She felt light-headed and giddy, but in a good way.

"To change, I mean, I'm changing. This toga's so annoying." Annabeth laughed at his demonstration of how the toga was annoying. She felt better than she had in months.

They sat by the porch at the praetor's house. "I didn't take this house. Jason's stuff were still here. So I stayed in the barracks." He had changed to a simple purple shirt and jeans. His muscles were visible under the cotton. He looked so good it made Annabeth's chest hurt.

He started to talk about his quest-from Juno asking him to carry him across the Little Tiber (in which he made a face) to defeating Polybotes with Terminus' help. The entire time he had his land laced in hers, both lying on his lap. It made Annabeth feel pride that he believed so much in her opinions and trusted her decisions so much. Part of her brain focused on his talk. The other part of it focused on small things-like noticing the changes in his looks since the past few months now that she was closer to him. His sea-green eyes had gotten deeper, and his hair grew a little. His skin tone seemed a little darker than before, but he was still just as good-looking.

He explained about Ella, a red feathered harpy who memorised the lost Sibylline Books. She was now hidden by Tyson from Octavian, that blue-toga guy who interrupted Reyna just now, who was greedy for power and wanted to become praetor when Jason left. He seemed to be hiding something when he mentioned Ella. He told her about everyone that he met; Annabeth was horrified when she heard he almost died from drinking gorgon's blood(But Percy argued that he still survived and had his memory restored). Another thing to add to _The Stupidest Things Percy Ever Done_ list.

He finished his story with the senator meeting this morning before the ship arrived, then fell silent, as if giving Annabeth some time to process the information.

"Maybe we should wait till the meeting with Reyna later." Annabeth didn't feel like thinking about right now. Yup. The end of the world is near and she could think about was Percy sitting so close to her again after 8 long months.

They sat there for a long while, until Percy turned to face her and gave her a small smile. Then he closed the gap between them.

Somehow this kiss was better than the last. He was soft and gentle, his arms moving up her waist slowly. Annabeth felt her heart pound so loudly she thought Percy could hear it. She wanted to stay like that, but of course, someone had to interrupt.

"Sorry, guys. Reyna wants to meet us now." Frank's head was visible. He spoke through the side of his mouth.

Percy looked at him sheepishly. "We'll be there." Frank took that as his queue and left.

Percy took a deep breath then smiled at her. He took her hand and told her, "Let's go see what Praetor Reyna wants from us."

And just when Annabeth thought that this day would be one to celebrate.


	3. III Jason

**Author's Note: Hi, I know I just started this story and all, so I'm not sure about when I can actually update. I'll be kinda busy for the month of December 2011 and January 2012. But I'll do my best to update as soon as possible. Thx for reading! I hope you like Jason's POV...**

III

JASON

**JASON FELT SICK AND DEPRESSED**. He hadn't exactly expected a warm welcome since his memories had mostly returned, but he expected more than just being welcomed by _gladii_, _pila _and _spathas_. And he expected Reyna to least give him a smile. Or anyone that would wave at him. But nothing. The only friendly people were Hazel, his old friend, Frank, apparently her boyfriend that arrived at camp a few weeks ago, and that hero guy from Camp Half-Blood, Percy Jackson.

Jupiter, that guy impressed Jason. From what he learned from Camp Half-Blood, the guy had major camp cred. 5 quests, 3 Titans, thousands of monsters and still going? Man, that guy is indestructible. And from what Hazel updated him with, Percy was now praetor after he journeyed with Hazel and Frank to the land beyond the gods, rescued the legion's standard, and defeated Polybotes with the help of Terminus, the boundary god. In less than a week, he moved from _probatio_ to praetor. And a son of Nep- Poseidon, he probably wasn't very well liked by everyone. Especially Octavian.

Jason remembered that guy alright. Greedy, ambitious, and a very good public speaker. Very good indeed. Jason hoped he would run into Octavian as few times as possible. That or avoid him all at once.

He left Piper and Leo to be shown around by Hazel and Frank. Instead of going to find Reyna to talk things out, he went straight toward the praetors' house. Technically, he lost ownership of the house, but he couldn't help but check if his stuff that he left were still there.

He opened the door, and immediately felt better. He felt more at home, like the world wasn't falling apart. Yet.

He went through the drawers, though he knew the punishment for raiding through the praetor's belongings. Or anyone's belongings for that matter. Romans were all about honour. He was surprised to find that nothing had been removed and nothing new had been added. Everything was still as he left it 8 months ago. He moved towards the bed and examined it-it hadn't been slept on for quite some time.

The only thing that changed was that the door to the porch was half-opened. Jason always closed it unless he wanted some fresh air at the porch. There was talking. He quietly peeped through the door. Percy and Annabeth were sitting on the porch, talking quietly. Jason barely heard what they said. The only thing he could hear was Percy explaining to Annabeth that this was the house that was given to him, but he didn't use it because Jason's stuff were still there. Once again, Percy Jackson impressed Jason. Of course, he's not a hero if he doesn't have a good personality.

He felt very rude, invading into their personal spaces. They probably were having some private time together, which explained why Percy pleaded with Hazel and Frank to 'take care' of their little envoy while he went off to make out with his girlfriend.

Jason quietly left, thinking. The issue with Reyna and Piper had Jason a little worried. After seeing Percy so loyal to Annabeth and not betraying her even though he had lost his memories and probably didn't even remember that he had a girlfriend, Jason felt worse than before. He didn't know what Reyna expected-him to hug her the minute he saw her as if all his memories had returned?

At that point, Reyna walked past carrying some scrolls. She was reading while walking, with her two loyal dogs at her side. Even though Reyna didn't see him, Jason felt his insides twist. He wanted to go up to her to at least say hi, but his body wasn't registering what his heart told him. By then time he snapped out of stupor, Reyna was already long gone.

He mentally smacked himself, then he headed toward the Fifth Cohort barracks, where he would most probably stay in now that Percy was praetor, even though the guy didn't take the praetor's house.

Halfway there, Jason suddenly regretted going to the barracks-Octavian was there. Jason should be surprised he was there, considering the fact that he spent most of the day in Jupiter's temple, murdering stuffed animals to read the will of the gods, but Jason wasn't surprised. Octavian was leaning against the wall, obviously waiting for someone. Most possibly him.

He was right. Octavian turned his head just in time to see Jason looking at him. The sides of his mouth curled up into a devious smile. His eyes twinkled with madness.

"Well!" Octavian spread his arms as if welcoming Jason. "If it isn't our old praetor who came back with the _graecus_. A whole bunch of _graecus_, in fact."

"What do you want, Octavian?" Jason didn't feel the need of even acting respectful in front of him. Over the past few months he made friends in Camp Half-Blood. It was also his home. He wasn't going to let Octavian talk about it like it was a dumpster near his house-one that he couldn't wait to get rid of.

"Nothing, of course. Just asking. That's what curiosity is, is it not? You believe them? You do, don't you? You believe everything that they say. I don't understand you, Jason Grace. You seem like a loyal man of Rome when I first met you. How disappointing of you, to follow those _graecus_..."

Jason felt blood roar to his ears. Was Octavian calling him a traitor? Of Rome? Never! Jason realised his fists were clenched. He wanted so much to punch Octavian in the face.

"They're not enemies. They're allies. They're going to help us defeated the giants. We have to work together. You should be able to see that. You're the augur." Jason managed to get a grip on himself. "Now if you excuse me, I have a lot of _other_ things to do." With that, he turned and headed toward his dad's temple, leaving behind an amused Octavian.

Jason got there even before he understood why his feet had taken him there. He then realised that he wanted to go in so much and ask his dad for guidance. He hoped his dad was in a good mood to answer his prayers today-he needed it.

He stepped in and immediately felt better. He felt more confident and invincible after breathing in the ozone smell. It gave him comfort that his dad will help him. Or... might.

He knelt in front of the statue of his dad. He tried to give his prayers as fast as he could-Octavian might be coming soon. He prayed for guidance for everything-how to solve the conflict between the Greeks and the Romans, at least until the Second Giant War was over. The issue with Octavian, if he managed to make everyone believe that he was a traitor to Rome and that the Greeks were enemies anymore than they already think, it was bad. He didn't think his dad was the right one to ask for guidance about the love issue thing with Piper and Reyna, but he was afraid if he asked Aphro-Venus, Piper would somehow know, being her daughter and all. So he kept the question to himself.

He left the temple, feeling not so changed. Frank came up the hill, panting.

"Reyna-wants-to-see-us-now." He spoke in short breaths, saying only one word each time. Jason nodded, then he followed Frank to the _Via Principalis_. He had a feeling that his day was taking a turn for the worse. Not that it didn't already stink.

**Me again! For now, there's not much adventure so it's hard to write longer chapters. If you recall, The Lost Hero and the Son of Neptune started with quite lengthy intro too. I don't I'll write that long though. I'll try to get into the adventure part soon. Thx for reading! R&R!**


	4. IV Jason

**I have quite a few chapters planned, but I think I'm gonna wait for the no. of reviews to go up first. Just to see how many ppl I'm actually writing for. Enjoy!**

IV

JASON

**JASON DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO** when he first stepped into the room. Usually the _Via Principalis_ didn't have chairs except for the praetors' ones, so someone must have brought them in. Frank plopped down into one of the wooden chairs beside Hazel. Percy and Reyna were sitting on the high-backed chairs behind the table-the praetor's chairs. Annabeth was sitting on a chair beside Percy. Leo and Piper were sitting with each other, with an empty seat to Piper's right. Jason looked around. There were no other empty seats. Piper saw him and gave him a brilliant smile that made him turn red. He sat beside her and hoped he wasn't looking too awkward. Reyna noticed this and frowned slightly. Jason quickly looked away. He didn't know where else to look, so he looked at Percy and Annabeth.

Annabeth's face was frowned; she had to be thinking about something important-no surprise there. Percy gave him a hearty smile and a thumbs-up. He looked more comfortable in his purple shirt and jeans than in the toga he was wearing just now. Jason tried to focus on as many things as he could before Reyna or anyone started to talk-anything to distract him from the aroma of Piper's shampoo and how they were so close that they were literally touching. He felt compelled to look at her and kiss her-all he had to do was turn. _No! _He told himself. _Control yourself. You have a lot of other things to worry about!_

Reyna cleared her throat. "May we begin? Shall we start by allowing the two groups who went on their quests to narrate it to the other group and vice versa?"

So again Leo, Piper and Jason had to repeat everything they said to their friends back at Camp Half-Blood, making them sound more like heroes than they actually were. Hazel, Frank and Percy told them another story. One that involved a rowboat named _Pax_, a store ran by Iris the rainbow goddess named R.O.F.L, a blind seer-son of Neptune Phineas, Amazons in Seattle, Alaska-the land beyond the gods, Alcyoneus-bane of Hades/Pluto, and Polybotes-bane of Poseidon/Neptune.

Jason felt a little inferior to Percy when Hazel mentioned how Percy beat Polybotes, the bane of his father. Jason only defeated Enceladus, bane of a lesser Olympian god. No offence, Athena. In fact, he already felt less of a hero compared to the son of Poseidon even before he met him. Of course, he was also impressed that Hazel and Frank defeated Alcyoneus, but he was not as impressed as he was with Percy.

Both Reyna and Annabeth looked thoughtful-Jason thought since Annabeth was the daughter of the goddess of war strategy and Reyna was the daughter of war, the two should get along just fine.

They looked at each other then nodded, coming to a silent agreement. "What you all have explained will proclaim a quest-a quest to Rome, to find out where the Doors of Death are, and try to close them. We have already talked about this this morning. Now it is confirmed. But we'll have to have another senators' meeting when it comes to a quest. We have to decide what supplies you can have on your quest. I believe you. But sadly, Octavian will most probably reject the request of you receiving supplies. I'll try to help, but-"

"There's more." Percy suddenly spoke up, looking embarrassed that he interrupted. He fidgeted, then continued. "There's this harpy that we found. Phineas wanted us to capture her in exchange for information of the giant's whereabouts. But as we said just now, we tricked him using gorgon's blood, but...we didn't say how. That's not important. The thing is, this harpy is...different."

Hazel and Frank caught on. Hazel continued, "She's really smart. Her name's Ella. She memorises everything she reads. And she reads a lot. But the most important part is that-" She turned around to look at the door to see that it was shut. Her voice lowered to a whisper. "She read a copy of the Sibylline Books."

An audible gasp was heard. Reyna's eyes were wide, and so were Annabeth's. They were technically the only ones besides Jason who were shocked. Piper and Leo didn't really get it. Piper cocked her head. It was such a cute gesture Jason couldn't help but blush and get thrown off the topic.

"Uh, not to be rude here, but...what are the Sib-ill-dye books?" Leo raised his hand like his was in class.

Annabeth frowned again. "There're these books of prophecies that outlined the entire destiny of Rome. They don't have an Oracle, so they use those. But according to legend, they've been burned. No one's ever read a copy-well, except for your friend Ella."

Percy shifted uncomfortably in his seat yet again. "Reyna, praetor, if I may, I don't think it's a good idea to show Ella to the rest of the senators. Especially Octavian. He'll try to get hold of Ella, and use her." He looked at Frank and Hazel, they nodded. "We're thinking of bringing her along. She could help us, and we can keep her away from Octavian."

Reyna thought for a while-she too tilted her head, but Jason didn't feel his heart pound as much as when Piper did the same action. "And you are sure you can keep her safe? I know Octavian may be a demon, but you're bringing her on a quest that could get her killed by hundreds or thousands of other monsters. Even if Octavian does use her, he will not kill her. She's too valuable."

"We know that. But she could help us." Hazel looked a little irritated when Reyna said Ella was _valuable_. "We'll keep her safe. She's with Tyson right now."

Reyna hesitated. "Your...Cyclops...friend."

Now it was Percy's turn to look irritated. "He's harmless. He helped us." Annabeth placed her hand on his arm to calm him down. Jason couldn't help but feel that ever since they started talking about Ella, Percy was tenser, and his mood swung quite a bit. Jason didn't feel like asking. Yes, he wanted to be a good friend, especially to the leader of the Greeks in order to win his favour, but he had enough problems of his own. Annabeth could handle it.

Reyna raised her hands like in surrender. "Alright." She looked at the clock. "It's almost dinner time. The senators' meeting will be held tomorrow morning. I'll inform them. Dismissed."

With that she walked out of the room, her metal hounds growled at Jason before following her. Jason remembered those metal hounds, all right. He did _not_ want to be snapped into bits. That will make him lose any chance of him fixing things right with Reyna and Piper.

The rest of them started to walk out too. Piper was walking out with Leo when she realised that Jason was not getting up to leave. She went over to him and touched his elbow. "I'm fine." Jason quickly got up before Piper could say anything. He didn't want her to think they were serious about anything. He quickly ran out of the room, not knowing where he was going next. But he did know that he was just running away from his problems. Blindly.

**Thx for reading. Review pls?**


	5. V Percy

**Still waiting for the no. of reviews to go up, but I think I'll just continue. P.S. I thought about whose P.O.V I should use, n I thought I could use Frank or Hazel, but I realised there were a lot of things that I had to cover on Percy's side...so...enjoy...**

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><p>V<p>

PERCY

**PERCY FELT ALL JUMBLED UP**. Sure, he was happy to see Annabeth again, but he was mad at himself. Mad that he didn't dare to tell the rest of them about his dream the night before, and the prophecy Ella had spoken-_Wisdom's daughter walks alone, the Mark of Athena burns through Rome._ Mad that this was almost the end of the world.

At least he had his friends. The seven of them sat at a table with the rest of the Fifth Cohort, talking and chatting amongst them. Technically, Percy, as praetor, should be seating at the head table, but he didn't feel like seating there with just Reyna when he had some friends to talk to, and no one told him off about it anyway.

The _aurae_ flew about, delivering food. Percy got a cheeseburger and blue soda-the exact same things he eaten when he first came to camp. Annabeth nudged him and smiled when she saw the soda. Percy tried to smile back, but the heart felt too heavy to do so. Hazel talked to Leo for a while and found out that he came from Texas, which might explain why he looked so similar to Sammy Valdez-he moved to Texas and got married there. So it might be a theory that Leo was his grandkid. Everyone demonstrated their special powers to each other-at one point Piper accidentally charmspoke Leo into knocking Jason's head with a spoon.

The dinner atmosphere was great, even if there were visitors around-so called their enemies. Everyone changed seats at least once, all talking and chatting-the usual gossip stuff. Hylla and her Amazons had already left that afternoon, so now it was just the campers of Camp Jupiter and those from Camp Half-Blood.

Percy wanted to suggest to Annabeth if they could go somewhere else alone, but then he realised that the envoy looked exhausted from their trip here, so he dropped the idea.

After dinner, the seven of them walked around camp, visiting Hannibal, Tyson, Arion, Mrs O. Leary and Ella. Annabeth was rather curious about her and stretched out her hand to feel her feathers, Ella reacted a little. Hazel said, "At least she didn't squawk like she did with Frank." She too felt Ella's feathers, but Ella didn't retreat from her touch. Annabeth looked a little hurt when she saw that, so Percy put an arm around her and she gave him a small smile.

By the time they made their way back to the Fifth Cohort barracks, it was getting late, and everyone agreed to retreat into their beds for the night. Percy kissed Annabeth lightly before heading to his bed. He plunked down on the bed and tried The gods know what the hell of a ride he was in for tomorrow.

**...**

The next day, after much gloomier breakfast, they all followed the rest of the senators to the Senate House. When they reached the Pomerian Line, Terminus turned around and grinned at Percy.

"Ah! The praetor arrives! Welcome! Who are these new ones?" Terminus raised his stone eyebrows.

"Terminus, this is the envoy that arrived yesterday. Annabeth Chase, daughter of Ath-Minerva, Piper McLean, Daughter of Venus, Leo Valdez, son of Vulcan, and Jas-"

"Ah yes, Jason Grace, son of Jupiter. Welcome back."

Jason smiled lightly. "Hi, Terminus."

Leo wasn't as tactful as the rest of them. He walked straight up to Terminus and bonked him on the nose. Terminus winced and made a face at Leo. Leo scratched his head. "This is that Terminus guy? The one who helped to defeat Poly-Oh..." He immediately backed away from the statue as Terminus harrumphed.

Percy couldn't help but smirk. Terminus was definitely in a good mood today. Annabeth tugged on his arm gently and her smile made Percy go a little red. The group passed Terminus into the Pomerian Line, but not before Julia popped out with a tray to collect their weapons. Percy, Jason, Hazel and Frank put down their weapons without saying anything. Piper, Leo and Annabeth were more hesitant. Percy nudged Annabeth a little to reassure her. And, after a moment's hesitation, Annabeth put down her knife and Piper put down Katoptris. Leo didn't know if his magic tool belt was considered a weapon, but just in case he got framed, he left it on the tray.

"Now, there's a praetor, and an ex-praetor. I expect you to inform them of the rules." Terminus stuck his nose high. "Carry on."

Annabeth looked rather uneasy. She tugged on the side of Percy's toga (which he was _forced_ to wear to the senate meeting by a certain daughter of Bellona who insisted he follow the tradition) and whispered, "Are you sure our weapons are safe with Julia? What if they attack us? We won't have our weapons with us." It was natural that Annabeth didn't entirely trust the Romans yet, even after they didn't attack them when they arrived yesterday, so Percy still had to reassure her. He kissed her lightly on the forehead, then she gave a weak smile, and continued walking.

The further they walked, however, she got lost in her thoughts and most probably forgotten about her knife being with Julia. She looked at all the buildings, awing at the architecture and went on and on about the design. Percy couldn't help but smile. Looks like Wise Girl hasn't changed.

Percy looked back at their envoy; Piper was looking at the buildings too, but for a different reason from Annabeth. Leo was aimlessly walking, fiddling with copper wires. Hazel and Frank walked along pointing out different buildings to Annabeth and Piper (Most probably Leo too, but he wasn't listening). For some reason, Jason lagged behind. He kept his eyes fixed on his shoes.

Percy frowned, then went over to him, leaving Annabeth to continue to gape at the buildings. "You okay, man?"

Jason looked up abruptly. Then he relaxed when he saw it was just him. "I'm fine." His voice sounded hoarse. Percy opened his mouth to say something else, but they had arrived at the Senate House. The rest of them walked in and Jason followed, leaving him behind. Percy had no choice but to end their conversation there.

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><p><strong>I'm really sorry for the short chapter. I couldn't fit the entire senate meeting in this one so I had to put it in the next one. Still, review pls? <strong>


	6. VI Percy

**So the sequence of the P. is still a little fuzzy in my mind, but just so you know, the sequence is not Annabeth, Jason then Percy. Just so you know. It ****will**** change. Most probably. P.S. I hope this chapter makes up for the last one, which was rather **_**not so good**_**.**

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><p>VI<p>

PERCY

**PERCY COULD TELL** the mood in the Senate House was heavier than usual. He could feel the weight of everyone's eyes on their entire envoy of seven. Frank and Percy sat in the front row with the rest of the senators. The rest of them sat on the left side of the semicircle. Several older veterans from the city looked at the Greeks in distaste. Percy felt his anger flare up, but he stopped himself from saying anything.

As Percy sat beside Reyna, he hoped that she would at least give him a small smile, to assure him that she was on their side. But Reyna didn't even look at him. She just walked up to the podium wordlessly and raised her hand for attention.

"We have gathered here to continue our discussion from yesterday's meeting about...the quest for both Greek and Roman to Rome. Gaia is rising. Our own quest led by Centurion Frank Zhang has shown evidence of that. I have personally spoken to our _guests_. They too have provided evidence. They went on their own quest to save Juno, 8 months ago. I fully believe them, for Juno and Mars Ultor have appeared to us, and warned us. According to Hazel Levesque, Nico di Angelo, ambassador of Pluto has been captured by Gaia while trying to find another way to close the Doors of Death."

She took a deep breath and continued. "The mission of this quest is that of the prophecy, _and foes bear arms to the Doors of Death_. The seven of the prophecy will be revealed in time." She raised her eyebrows at the envoy. "I believe they have a plan for this quest."

She turned back to the senators. "We're here to finalise the quest," she said, glaring at Octavian, "not to vote on the quest itself."

Immediately Octavian stood up. Percy really felt like punching him in the face. He was _this_ close to doing so.

Octavian ignored Percy's tense look. "However, I, for one, do not trust them. How can we be sure they are the ones of the prophecy? Praetor, you are looking at this in your perspective, what about the rest of us? We have different views. Does Rome not have justice?"

He turned towards the senators. His allies were already agreeing with him. Apparently, with the Greeks around, the Romans felt the need to argue. The senators that were on Octavian's side raised their voices in protest. The Lares usually stayed neutral, but now they were disagreeing too. Octavian turned around with a smug look on his face.

"That's not-"Reyna started, but she never got to finish. The senators were literally yelling now. The opposing side were arguing back with just as much force. Reyna fought to keep everything in control. The envoy looked panicked. Percy could take it anymore.

"ENOUGH!" A slight tremor passed through the ground, knocking Octavian off his feet. Annabeth quickly touched Percy's arm in an effort to calm him down. She knew that the tremor wasn't caused by Gaia but by him. He lost control of his powers sometimes, but he couldn't afford to lose control now, especially in front of the Romans who were mostly _not_ in their favour.

Percy tried to calm down as the noise died. Annabeth's touch on his arm helped. "Don't you see? Gaia is counting on this. On the Greeks and the Romans not getting along with each other so we won't be able to cooperate and stop her. Is this what you want? Gaia to win? After this is over, you guys can bicker all you want. But right now, we have to work together." He looked at Jason for support.

Jason smiled and stood as well. "He's right. I lived with them for eight months. I'm a loyal man of Rome. I will not lie to my fellow Romans. We don't have to understand each other. We don't even have to like each other. We just need to respect each other enough to save the world together." He offered Percy his hand.

Percy smiled gratefully and shook it, then turned back to the senators. "Who's with us?"

The senators thought for a while. In fact, they were taking so long to decide that it made Percy's confidence waver.

Until he saw Reyna's hand go up. She gave him a smile. Frank's hand was already up the minute the two ended their speech. The senators nodded at each other and slowly started to smile at them too; their doubts were gone. The Lares went back to staying neutral, though some of them smiled at the two boys on the podium and raised their hands too. One by one, they raised their hands in favour, making a wave. The Greeks looked delighted and relieved. Octavian on the other hand, looked outraged.

"_Senatus Populusque Romanus_!" Reyna yelled. The senators repeated. Percy looked at Jason and they hi-fived. Reyna gave him another dazzling smile. So did Annabeth a few seconds later. Only then did Percy go red.

**...**

Transportation? Check. Supplies? Check. Money? Check.

The Argo II was ready to set sail from Camp Jupiter. Back at the senate meeting, Annabeth had informed that they didn't need a lot of supplies as they have brought enough for seven from Camp Half-Blood back home. The senators then agreed to give them mortal money and denarii in case they needed it (although the envoy had already brought drachmas). And of course, the letters of introduction in case they met any of the veterans of the legion that could help them.

Tyson had left for Camp Half-Blood that morning. Annabeth said that she had already Iris-messaged Chiron; he said that it was best that Tyson came back to help the camp prepare for the giant war. Even though the seven of the prophecy were destined to take on the giants, there were plenty of the giants' minions; the two camps would have to fight those. The mission of this quest to Rome is purely to find the Doors of Death. Chiron also mentioned talking to Lupa; she said that she and her pack would be returning back to Camp Jupiter soon.

They had already snuck Ella in earlier, so now Annabeth was going through their supplies for the fifth time, and Hazel was helping her. Leo was checking out the ship to see if there was a need for a last minute touch-up, and Frank had turned into some kind of bird to help put up the sails. Jason was standing at the side looking at the ship, his bag slung over his shoulder. Piper was nowhere to be seen.

Percy frowned. There was definitely something wrong between Piper and Jason. Percy might be obtuse sometimes, but even he could tell that they liked each other. But so far, Jason looked like he was trying his best to stay away from Piper. And Reyna.

_And Reyna._

Percy mentally smacked himself. That explained a lot. Jason likes Piper but isn't sure if he liked Reyna before. As much as Percy wanted to help him, he couldn't think of a way to. If Jason needed Percy's help in kicking monsters' butts, Percy would be able to do it. But not this kind of thing.

He wondered if he should ask Annabeth about it. She was, after all, a girl. She might be able to understand how Piper was feeling about the issue with Jason. If she even knew about it.

At that point Reyna walked up to Jason and said something to him. Jason turned a little red at the ears when he saw her coming towards him. Percy frowned; for some reason, Reyna's automaton hounds weren't beside her. That was strange. Usually they always followed her around.

Percy watched as they exchanged a few words, then Reyna walked away with Jason at her heels. Something wasn't right. They wanted to go somewhere alone?

Annabeth suddenly appeared by his side. She held his hand. "Come on, praetor. Leo needs your help with the ship." She gave him a brilliant smile that made Percy blush, and let her pull him towards the Argo II. Now that he was with Annabeth, he had forgotten what he wanted to ask her.

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><p><strong>Argo II is gonna set sail in the next chapter.<strong>

**Thanks for reading. Review pls?**

**P.S. The reason why some of you think my spelling is wrong is because I'm a Singaporean, and we follow the British version. Just FYI.**


	7. VII Annabeth

**Okay, I know I said the sequence of P.O.V.s is gonna change, but I didn't mean the change was effective immediately. Still...enjoy!**

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><p>VII<p>

ANNABETH

**AFTER FRANK HAD TRIED **(and failed) eleven times to put the sails up correctly, Leo practically went berserk. He was fussing about the ship, making sure everything was in its right place. And everything was. Except for the sails.

Annabeth rolled her eyes at Leo's overdramatic cry at the sky: '_What do you want from me?_'

She went over and pulled him by his shirt then smacked the back of his head.

"Ow! Annabeth, that was so not cool." Annabeth rolled her eyes again. _That was not cool_, she wanted to tell him. What if Zeus was watching? Or listening? Leo would get fried by lightning.

"Relax. I'll go get Percy. He can control ships and boats. I'll be right back." Annabeth released him and went to look for her boyfriend.

He was watching Jason go off with Reyna, his eyebrows were furrowed. Annabeth decided that he was still rather cute with that face on. She walked up to him and got him to get on the ship.

When she came back to the Argo II, Leo was nowhere to be seen. "He's in the cabins." Frank said, leaning against the deck. He was probably tired from all that shape-shifting into different animals to put up the sails. But upon hearing Hazel call him from below the deck, Frank bolted downstairs.

Annabeth watched as Percy moved his hands around and the sails automatically pulled themselves up. She loved it when he was busy doing something else; it gave her time to watch him. While waiting for Leo, Percy did a little extra work around the ship.

A few minutes later, Leo came up noisily, tripping over the stairs. He was cursing in Ancient Greek until he saw the ship. The deck was sparkling clean and the sails were up right. The controls were ready and every scratch and dent was gone. The ship was perfection now that Percy had gone through it.

Leo's jaw dropped wide open. Percy looked a little smug himself. Annabeth grinned then went to take his hand. They walked to the edge of the deck and watched some fishes come out of the water and dive back in. All the while ignoring Leo and his fussing about his precious ship.

At one point, Percy placed an arm around Annabeth. It made her heart flutter in her chest. They stood there for five minutes, maybe longer, when some shuffling was heard.

"Hey Leo." Piper came up to the deck. "Wow. Ship's clean" She walked over to him and put an arm on his shoulder. Leo was checking something on his clipboard. "You can thank Perce for that."

Piper smiled and waved at Percy. And her smile grew even wider when she saw his hand around Annabeth. Annabeth immediately blushed again.

Leo looked up then. He looked around. "Has anyone seen Jason? We need to leave soon. We're not really under a strict time limit, but like Chiron said, while we're all here chit-chatting, the giants are preparing to attack Mount Olympus."

Piper rolled her eyes. "He didn't say that. He said while we're getting ready, the giants are preparing to attack Mount Olympus."

Leo grinned. "I like to change it a little. So have you seen Jason?" He turned to the couple still standing by the deck. "Annabeth? Percy? Have ya?"

Annabeth shook her head. Percy cocked his head. "I saw him just now." He offered.

Leo turned to Piper, still waiting for her answer. Annabeth then noticed there was a tight anger in Piper's eyes, but also something else. Hurt. But as soon as it appeared, it vanished. "Nope. Haven't seen him." With that, she walked down the stairs to the cabin without another word.

At that point Jason came running up the gangplank. He was panting and his cheeks were flushed, but Annabeth had a rousing suspicion that it was not because he had been running. "As anyone seen Piper?"

Leo was still looking at his clipboard. "You just missed her, bro. She's downstairs." Finally he looked up. "Where have you been? We were all waiting."

Jason groaned and muttered a 'sorry' before trudging downstairs.

Part of Annabeth's brain focused on what was happening on the ship. The other half felt numb. She had almost forgotten how good it felt being pressed against Percy's muscular frame like that.

Leo picked up the speakerphone and raised it to his mouth. "We're leaving in ten minutes."

Hazel and Frank came running up the deck to take one last look at the camp. Some of their friends had shown up. Dakota, Bobby and Gwen were standing side by side and waving at them. Some of the senators and a few people from the city also came to say goodbye. Julia waved at them from afar. Mostly it was Hazel and Frank who waved. The rest of them watched. Except for Piper and Jason who were downstairs.

"Set sail." Leo's voice came through the speakerphone, and the Argo II simultaneously lifted itself into the sky.

**...**

The day passed rather uneventfully.

The minute they set sail, Ella came up from downstairs, soaring and flying with Hazel chasing behind her, laughing. She had set her nest up on the mast (Leo didn't like that really much, but he didn't say anything. Which was good, because the harpy was so sweet).

In fact, the weather was great-clear skies and calm waters, so they all decided to let their hair down and take a swim. After the ship had descended onto the water's surface, the guys simply thrown off their shirts and jumped into the glittering water. The girls joined them a little while later in their swimsuits, though no one would ever know that Aphrodite had magically made new swimsuits appear for them.

Frank had turned into a seal and was playing with Hazel. Leo was on his back relaxing. Piper was just swimming around aimlessly, occasionally stopping to talk to Leo, but she seemed to be avoiding Jason. Jason was doing the exact opposite. He seemed to be trying to get as close to Piper as possible to get a chance to talk to her. But she kept moving away every time he got close.

As for Annabeth, she felt like she was in heaven. Percy had made an underwater bubble for them, and they stayed down there for god knows how long. Annabeth didn't even care that some fishes were swimming by watching their 'lord' kiss his girlfriend. Annabeth moved her hands up Percy's chest-the end of the world seemed so far away now.

After a while of playing in the water, they resurfaced to get back to the ship. Percy had reasoned that they couldn't spend a lot of time stopping the ship-they had to get to Rome. Then Annabeth had teased him saying that usually she was the one of the logic and reasoning. Then Percy pouted and gave her a lopsided grin, which made Annabeth blush and kiss him.

After all of them bathed and changed, Leo went to prepare dinner. While waiting, Percy led Annabeth to the deck, where the sun was setting. Percy smiled at her and took her hand. "We used to watch the sunset all the time back at camp. Before, well..." He gazed sadly at the horizon.

Annabeth hated to see him upset or unhappy. She squeezed his hand lightly, trying to give comfort because she didn't know what to say to him to make him feel better. He smiled sadly at her, then used the tips of his fingers to lift her chin and kissed her gently.

His hands moved to her waist, and her hands met each other at the back of his neck. They stayed like that for a while, until Percy gently pulled away and gave her another small smile, before bringing her back downstairs, where Leo laid out the dinner table.

**...**

Leo was an excellent cook; Annabeth had to give him credit for that. He had made spaghetti, bread and some soup. And, as a bonus, he also made éclairs as dessert.

After the meal, Annabeth finally got to lay out the schedule for their shifts at night. The one who takes a shift at night will have some time to rest in the day. For the rest of the night they just played some games-Leo brought them along as an attempt to get everyone to lighten up a bit.

When it got rather late, Annabeth washed up and led Percy into the girls' cabin. Percy was blushing like crazy, like he was embarrassed to be in there. Annabeth smiled. "Relax. They're still outside. And it's only for a little while."

Percy sat near the edge of the bed and Annabeth leaned on his chest. A few minutes later Hazel came in and blushed when she saw them. "Sorry. I'll come back later." She quickly went out.

Annabeth laughed at Percy's face-he was as red as a tomato. He quickly said, "Well, it's getting late. You should sleep." He pulled the covers over her as Annabeth laid down. She sat back up again. Percy rolled his eyes at her stubbornness, then kissed her on the forehead. "Good night."

Annabeth pouted and stuck her tongue at him out as he left. He gave her another lopsided grin before he went out. Annabeth lay back down. But before she could pull the covers over herself again, she was hit with a wall of darkness. She blacked out immediately.

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><p><strong>Don't worry about what happens to Annabeth. You'll find out in the next chapter.<strong>

**But common sense tells you she doesn't die.**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter! R&R**

**Moonlite Artemis**


	8. VIII Annabeth

**I'll admit-last chapter left a cliff-hanger. So pls enjoy this chapter. I'll be waiting for you at the bottom of the page!**

**P.S. To Anonymous who reviewed Chapter VII, 7, personally I like Jasper better. No offence, but I don't really like Reyna because the way RR wrote it, it seems like she likes Jason AND Percy. That really screws things up. Especially when I'm trying to write the story. But if you would see the next chapter, maybe you'll like it: There's Jeyna in it. Though I didn't really want it to write it that way, I have no choice if I wanna make it more...dramatic. Oh, and don't worry about being too young for an account. You'll turn thirteen soon! I'm barely thirteen myself...**

**Anyways, on to the story!**

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><p>VIII<p>

ANNABETH

**ANNABETH FELT SLOW** and hazy moving in her dream. Time seemed to slow down. She was alone in a world of darkness-and nothingness.

There were voices in the background, but they were so faint Annabeth thought she was imagining it. Until she heard a boy's voice. Distinct and clear, she recognised it immediately.

"Percy?" She lifted her hand, trying to find something solid in this place. But it was useless. It was like an underwater current of blackness-she knew she was moving but she didn't know where to.

As she moved further away, the voices became fainter. Eventually most of the voices disappeared. Only Percy's remained. But even his was getting fainter. Annabeth was worried that his voice would vanish too, leaving her alone once again.

But it didn't. As faint as it was, Annabeth could still distinguish the voice. The current got stronger as it pushed her along-where was it taking her to?

She moved while listening to Percy's faint muffling, the invisible current carrying her along. Eventually though, she heard moans and agonizing cries.

Her vision was no longer black. She was standing in front of a great set of doors made of solid Obsidian. The carvings on the doors were so intricate, Annabeth had no trouble believing that it was very old-ancient even.

For some reason, she saw through them at will. Souls. Tortured souls. She was looking at the Fields of Punishment. Further away she could see the Isles of Blest.

She had been in the Underworld before, when she was twelve and on a quest with Percy and Grover. But she'd never seen the Underworld from this view before.

As Annabeth watched, the doors swung open slightly, and a soul crept out. Once she was free, she grinned wickedly and bowed, before spreading her arms and floating to the surface, cleanly passing through the 'ceiling', if the Underworld even had a ceiling.

"You must stop this." A low voice came from nowhere. On instinct, Annabeth spun around and brought out her dagger, only to realise that it was gone. And there was no one there.

"Find the doors. Close them. It is beyond my power. But not beyond yours." The voice came again, more commanding.

A flash of light shone directly at her, forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut. When she opened them again, the doors and the Underworld was gone. Instead there was a white portal in front of her, swirling with different colours.

As she watched, the portal started to show her something.

Her past.

She saw herself as a little kid, sitting on a small chair and reading a book in her room when her father came in with a visitor-the day her father brought back her stepmother. She saw herself running around the country with Thalia and Luke, and Grover bringing them to Camp Half-Blood.

The day she first met Percy and went on her first quest to retrieve Zeus' lightning bolt. The following years after she had met Percy, the quests they went on. She got a glimpse of Hylla, Circe, Daeladus and Atlas.

She even saw a scene that she wasn't present in; only an illusion of her-Percy entering the River Styx, the vision that he saw, was of her in the canoe lake, laughing at him and reaching out a hand to help him as he had fallen into the water. Her mouth moved, but the image disappeared before she knew what Percy had heard her say.

She saw the two months that they dated, right up to the night before he went missing.

Then she saw the Argo II, sailing along.

The present.

The deck was empty; even Ella the Harpy was not sitting in her nest on the mast. Where was everyone?

The image disappeared soon. The next few that she saw made no sense. She saw random pictures; there was a bridge, an aqueduct, and a few buildings. They kept coming at her, getting faster and faster. "Stop this insanity. Close the doors. Or Gaia will let the worst villains out of the Underworld. And no one can stop her when she is fully awake. For now she stirs. But soon, she shall waken." The voice came yet again.

_How?_ Annabeth felt like asking. But she knew the voice would not respond to her question.

The portal faded. She was back in the Underworld, facing those doors again, except this time there was a ground to stand on. As if the voice was trying to prove his point, Annabeth saw the doors swing open wide, and a huge group of souls escaped at once. Annabeth felt her heart smashing against her ribcage. She was so frightened; beads of sweat were running down her face and her teeth chattered.

The ground started to shake, causing Annabeth to lose her balance. Six Earthborn rose from ground all around her, making it impossible to escape. "Praise to Mother Gaia!" They all raised their hands at once, making it smell like a dumpster with their six armpits each.

Then they advanced towards Annabeth. She didn't have a weapon, so she couldn't fight. How could she not have her weapon at her side at all times?

The ground suddenly opened up at the last minute. It swallowed Annabeth, and she fell. Falling into endless pit as she screamed. It smelt wet and moist. She fell so far she thought she could have reached the core of the Earth. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping it would end her dream.

**...**

Luck was not on her side. When she opened her eyes, she was in a cave, standing upright and leaning against the rocky cave wall.

Annabeth swallowed, and tried to find the exit. This dream was too much for her to bear, she wish it would just end. Why won't she wake up?

At last there was some light. Annabeth ran to it, but halted as soon as she saw it was _not_ an exit. Annabeth wanted to gasp, but she afraid of getting overheard. She immediately hid behind the nearest wall.

She was looking at a huge cavern of monsters, at least a thousand, maybe more. Right at the front, standing on a ledge, was a huge giant; so dense it seemed that he had his own gravitational field. He was humanoid from waist up, clad in bronze armour, and from the waist down he had scaly dragon legs. His skin was the colour of lima beans. His hair was as green as summer leaves, braided in long locks and decorated with weapons. His eyes were blank white, like polished marble. Annabeth had read enough of Greek mythology to know who it was.

The king of the giants. Porphyrion.

The first row was filled with _anemoi thuella_. Only a girl at the far end was definitely not a storm spirit. She wore a white silk dress. Her skin was unnaturally pale; the colour of snow, but her hair was a lush mane of black. Jason, Piper and Leo had mentioned her. Khione. Goddess of snow.

The row behind her was filled with wolves. Lycaon, king of the wolves was right behind Khione. The rest of the rows were filled with monsters. _Dracaenae_, _karpoi_, the Earthborn, and some mortals brought back to life and some other monsters. The entire cavern was filled. There were openings at the sides of the cavern; they probably led to more caverns. That meant more monsters.

Annabeth's heart sank. Even with the demigods from Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood working together, they were outnumbered. Hopelessly outnumbered.

Annabeth's heart sank even lower when she saw what-or rather, _who_, was beside Porphyrion.

Nico di Angelo himself was in a cage made of earthen tendrils grown straight out the Earth. There seemed to be a veil around it, probably preventing Nico from using his powers to escape. The light of a fire was directly shone on him in case he tried to shadow travel away. When Percy, Frank and Hazel told them about their quest, they did mention Nico was kidnapped by Gaia, but Annabeth didn't expect to see him in her dream, in a place like this.

He didn't look different from when Annabeth last saw him-black aviator jacket, skull T-shirt, and dark-washed jeans. The only difference was that he looked exhausted, like his powers had been drained-they probably had been because Nico tried to escape. His hands gripped the bars, his shoulders slumped.

Porphyrion laughed-a loud booming sound that scared Annabeth out of her wits. As if she wasn't already frightened enough from her dream.

He looked carefully at his minions. "Give praise to Mother Gaia. Soon she shall awake and we shall overthrow the gods! It shall be the dawn of a new era!" It was met with a lot of applause and cheering.

"Hmph. Those demigods may have defeated three of my brothers, but the rest of us shall rise soon enough. Some have already risen. Some will soon. Those demigods won't know what they'll be up against. They haven't seen the worst we can do." Again came the cheering, but this time Porphyrion silenced them.

He walked to the cage Nico was in and looked at him amusedly while Nico glared at him. He walked around the cage, examining him. "My, my. What an interesting specimen you are."

To the rest of them he said, "Not our first demigod. But more powerful than the rest. A son of Hades. Of course, if I could have that son of Jupiter and son of Poseidon in my hands, it would be good. Especially that son of Poseidon! No good son of the sea-god defeated Kronos and took out Polybotes! He would be tricky one to handle. But no matter, all heroes have a weakness. They'll all be taken down sooner or later."

"You will not succeed," Nico gritted his teeth, his dark eyes narrowed and burning with raging fire.

"Quiet, you! Time shall tell." Porphyrion gave him the stink eye. He walked up to the ledge again. "Now! Let's make the demigods' trip to Rome a little more...interesting." He grinned wickedly as the crowd burst into cheers.

Annabeth felt herself gulp.

One mortal suddenly looked up in Annabeth's direction. Annabeth gasped. He widened his eyes immediately. "My lord, oh Great One, there's an intruder! The one who sees us!"

Porphyrion frowned. "You mean the girl?" As soon as he said it, the pin dropped, and he snapped his head towards Annabeth. Annabeth tried to turn and run, but right behind her was a wall. Where did that come from?

Oh Gods.

She was trapped.

"Get the girl!" Someone yelled. All the monsters simultaneously looked around to locate her. Nico too. He then saw her a second before the rest of the monsters did. His eyes went wide. While the Earthborn simply started climbing up the wall, Nico closed his eyes and frowned in concentration.

The ground started to rumble again under her feet. Annabeth was afraid she'd fall off. But the cave's only opening sealed shut as a wall of stone came crashing down right in front of her.

She blacked out once again.

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><p><strong>My longest chapter so far...was the dream as creepy as I thought it was? <strong>

**Maybe I didn't describe it well...**

**Still, hope you like it!**

**Pls review! :D**

**Moonlite Artemis**


	9. IX Jason

**Okay, if any of you are wondering what's up with Piper and Jason, you'll find out in this chapter.**

**Important note to all Jasper fans: Pls do not hate me or throw virtual tomatoes at me.**

* * *

><p>IX<p>

JASON

**JASON PLACED HIS HANDS** behind his head on his pillow and sighed.

He couldn't decide if he felt disappointed or depressed. Probably both.

Disappointed because of the way the Romans acted in front of his friends. Disappointed because they weren't even trying to cooperate with the Greeks to get their help to fight Gaia. Jason was worried that they made a bad first impression on the Greeks. He felt like asking Thalia for help. For the past few months she stopped by at camp a couple of times, and they've gotten close. But he didn't want to disturb her when she was running around with the Hunters of Artemis, so he was in a dilemma.

If he put that issue aside, there was still another problem right in his face-Piper and Reyna.

The entire day yesterday Jason noticed Piper was avoiding him. He had a clue why she was doing so-what happened yesterday was _totally_ unplanned, but it had happened. And he really wished it didn't.

Just before the Argo II left Reyna said she wanted to talk to him. She had led him off to a corner, almost entirely obstructed by trees or buildings. Jason was feeling extremely jumpy at that time. Mostly because he was alone with Reyna.

"I know this isn't the right time for this," she had said, looking nervous. Jason remembered thinking that it was strange, for two reasons. One, her hounds weren't by her side. Two, she looked nervous. _Reyna_ looked nervous. She never looked nervous.

"Your memory hasn't fully recovered, but-" At that point she had squeezed her eyes shut and lowered her head. Jason went nearer to her, wanting to ask if she was okay. But she quickly looked up and pressed her lips against Jason's. That was _totally_ uncalled for. Jason was too shocked to react.

For the next forty-one seconds, everything felt muffled. Jason could barely breathe or think. He focused on little things that he never noticed before-the sweet smell of Reyna's shampoo, how her hair shone different hues of brown under the light. A complete mess of thoughts, panic and worries swirled through Jason as he let it happen.

In the midst of it, Jason thought he heard someone gasp. But his brain seemed to have lost all functioning ability while Reyna's lips were still on his.

When they had broken apart, Reyna's eyes looked a little red. She quickly walked past him, whispering "good luck" in his ear as she passed him. Jason had stood there for a long while before heading back to the Argo II in a daze.

On the way, he saw Piper running past him towards to the Argo II. Jason remembered being upset because Piper didn't say hi to him. Usually she would.

He then realised with a jolt, Piper must have been the one who gasped when she saw Reyna kissing Jason. He had dashed towards the ship in an attempt to catch up with her to explain. But by the time he reached the ship, Piper was already in the girls' cabin. He didn't dare go in. He thought he could just wait until Piper came out.

But then she kept ignoring or avoiding him, like yesterday when they were swimming-she stayed as far from him as possible. Jason could almost confirmed it was Piper who had seen them kissing.

He turned his body so that his face was flat on the pillow. Then he groaned into it.

His life stank.

He wondered if he should ask Percy about his love issues. He had, after all, dated Annabeth, and she was hard to handle. And they were in a similar situation-they both lost their memories. The only difference was that Percy actually remembered Annabeth even with his memory taken. Another thing Jason gave the guy credit for.

He looked over the edge. Percy was using in the bottom bunk and Jason was using the top one.

Jason expected to see the guy sleeping there, but he wasn't. And his bed wasn't made.

Jason sat up and frowned. He looked over to the bunk beds that Leo and Frank were sleeping in-they were not there either. Frank's bed was made while Leo's wasn't (Jason didn't think Leo even bothered to _try_ to make his bed). Where was everyone? Did everyone decided to wake up early and forget about him?

He got up and quickly went to wash up and change into a pair of jeans and a clean purple shirt; he had gotten his clothes back from his ex-praetor house while they were at Camp Jupiter.

Then he walked out of the room to find the others.

**...**

The kitchen was empty. So was the living room. Jason was about to walk up the stairs to check the deck when he heard noises from the girls' cabin. He hesitated at the door. Was it only Piper?

But there was more than one voice. All were hushed whispering.

Jason took a deep breath before opening the door.

Everyone was inside. Hazel and Piper were near Annabeth's bed while Leo sat on Hazel's bed. Frank was crouching down beside Percy. Even Ella was in the room, nesting comfortably on Hazel's bed with Leo. But only when Jason looked at Annabeth did he realise the problem.

Annabeth was lying down, with Percy's arm around her shoulder and her body resting on his lap. Her face was pale and her cheeks were flushed, like she was having a fever. Her hands, resting on her stomach, jerked once in a while. She was sweating a little. Percy carefully tucked a blanket around her while Frank laid a cool cloth on her forehead. She shivered in Percy's arms.

"It's been more than an hour already." Percy told Frank miserably. Frank frowned. "Let's try the nectar."

No one had noticed Jason come in. Jason thought Piper saw him, but she acted as if he wasn't there. Only when Leo spotted him he gestured for him to sit next to him.

"Annabeth's not doing great. Frank says she's in some sort of coma. But he promised it won't last long. A few hours at most." He spoke softly, then he frowned. "Percy's not doing well either. His shift was last night, but he's been with Annabeth since Hazel and Piper found out that Annabeth wasn't waking up, no matter how much they try to get her up. They said it was like she lost consciousness."

Jason watched as Percy trickled nectar into Annabeth's mouth slowly. From what he had heard from people at Camp Half-Blood, Percy Jackson was amazing at combat, but apparently with his girlfriend he could be so gentle towards her.

Jason saw Hazel draw a shaky breath. "I better go. It's my shift." She said, before heading out of the room. Piper sat down on Annabeth's bed and pursed her lips.

Percy stopped trickling the nectar into Annabeth's mouth. "How long till she wakes up?" He asked Frank, his voice husky. Frank frowned again. "Hard to say. Should be soon."

Leo fiddled with copper wires while Piper played absentmindedly with her hair. Jason desperately wanted to walk over to talk to her, but he knew this wasn't the right time.

Instead he watched Percy play with the ends of Annabeth's curls like it was the most natural thing in the world. They were perfect together.

No fair. Jason's love life was a mess.

Couple of minutes passed as they all sat in silence.

Out of the blue, a loud 'BOOM!' shook the ship, and basically frightening everyone. As the ship continued to rock, they all got to their feet, except for Annabeth, who was being carefully laid on the bed by Percy.

Hazel burst through the door. Her hair was wet and messy and her _spatha_ was drawn. "We've got company. Venti. A lot of them. They're attacking the ship." As soon as she said that, the ship jerked wildly, knocking almost everyone off their feet. Jason heard Leo curse in a mixture of Ancient Greek and Spanish.

Before any one of them could dash out, a shaky voice called from the girl on the bed. "Percy?"

Annabeth's eyes were barely open and her face was still really pale. "What's going on?"

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><p><strong>Next chapter's my first battle scene.<strong>

**Let's see how well I do.**

**Pls review! I need that confidence to continue the story...**

**P.S. I know this chapter's kinda short. Forgive me for that.**

**Moonlite Artemis**


	10. X Jason

**Pls read the A/N at the bottom of this page!**

**P.S. Since it's Christmas, I'll give all you readers a bonus: I updated two chapters at once! Well, there was an hour interval between the time I updated the first one and this one, but at least it was on the same day. Now in Singapore it's almost 11pm, so Christmas is almost over, but not for some of you, especially those living in America. Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

><p>X<p>

JASON

**ANNABETH WAS SO **stubborn. She insisted that she could fight even though she could barely stand.

As this was an emergency situation, they had to decide quickly: Percy made Annabeth promise that she would stay near the door to the stairs in case she needed to run back into the cabin. Annabeth didn't seem to like the fact she had to be protected, but seeing that she just woke up from a short coma, she had no choice but to agree.

When they burst through the door to the deck, the _venti_ were shooting lightning all over the ship, destroying the sails, but otherwise doing minimal damage as the Argo II was made of Celestial Bronze. Except that the bolts were heating up the surface of the ship. The sky was dark, probably caused by the _venti's_ presence. The sea was rough, but more controlled once Percy stepped onto the deck.

Hazel was right; there were a lot of them. More than two dozen. Hopefully they could still take them out.

They all drew their weapons, and that attracted the storm spirits' attention. They seemed to be laughing at them. _You cannot win this war, demigods. Gaia will rise and rule again._

Jason tried his best to ignore their pestering. He fought these before, he could do it again. Jason stabbed one right in the middle, but it didn't disintegrate; it barely hissed before lunging at Jason.

From his angle, he could see Percy trying to keep the ship under control, even without the sails. He brought in waves of water, one after the other, weighing the _venti_ down and plastering them on the deck, making them easier to hit.

Piper was barely able to fend them off. Apparently the _venti_ were quite immune to charmspeaking. Either that or Piper's charmspeaking wasn't so powerful. Jason thought the latter was quite impossible. Piper was really good at charmspeaking.

Jason fought off some while making his way to Leo.

Leo was doing well. He had taken out two Celestial Bronze swords from his magic tool belt and was slashing and stabbing the _venti_. They hissed at him, then lunged at him again.

One came at him from behind. Jason managed to surprise it by stabbing it from the back, causing it to turn to dust instantly.

"Thanks Jason!" Leo called over his shoulder.

Jason gave him a thumbs-up sign before continuing to stab the venti. Only a few disintegrated. Three suddenly came at him at once, pushing him back till he realised he was at the edge of the deck.

He was trapped.

He let his instincts take over-he summoned lightning.

Pointing his gladius into the sky, he used it as a rod to conduct the electricity. He pointed the lightning at the _venti_ and blasted them with it.

They turned into dust at once. Jason quickly summoned a wind to scatter the dust, afraid they would reform. As he ran to see who needed help, he felt an ache in the back of his neck-a side effect after he used too much of his powers.

Then he dashed across the deck to help Hazel. It turns out she didn't need it. She was using only her _spatha_, but Frank was helping her fight the _venti_ with his arrows. And they were doing well enough.

Percy was fighting, defending Annabeth (who was still in a daze) and controlling the ship at the same time, but he seemed to be doing fine, still managing to bring in waves of water. He had even fixed the sails already.

Only one person left to help-and probably the one who most needs help-Piper. Jason tried to ignore the fact that Piper was mad at him and ran to help her.

He intercepted the lightning from a storm spirit and directed it away from Piper. Piper looked shocked for a moment, before resuming her annoyed look. Jason pretended not to see that and continued stabbing the venti, occasionally redirecting the lightning away from Piper.

Without knowing how, Jason ended up right behind Piper, his back pressed against hers. He blushed immediately.

"I don't need your help." Piper muttered darkly from the side of her mouth. As soon as she heard that, six _venti_ surrounded them. They hovered and circled around them, probably preparing to attack. Or maybe they enjoyed torturing demigods like that to make them think they were going to die before they actually _do_ start to attack. The latter was most likely.

"Are you sure you don't need my help?" Jason couldn't help but ask, even though he knew he was winding Piper up. She just grunted.

Jason raised his gladius again, preparing to summon lightning to blast at them. The _venti_ looked afraid when they saw that.

But when Jason focused on conducting the electricity, nothing happened. Not even a single spark. It was then that the storm spirits started to laugh.

"Urgh. What now?" Piper flashed him another annoyed look as the _venti_ circled closer. "Another snowstorm interference. Or maybe because I already summoned lightning just now. I'm a little tired."

Piper rolled her eyes. Then her voice turned sugary sweet and charming. "Are you sure you're too tired to summon some more lightning to get rid of the storm spirits? I would really love it if you could..." She batted her eyelids at Jason and he felt like his heart had leapt into his throat. And it wasn't entirely because her voice was heavily weighted with thick layers of irresistible magic. It had something to do with how Piper looked so cute when she seemed to be flirting with him.

Even so, Jason felt himself doing what she said; as if he would do anything she wanted when she wanted. He zapped the venti with little effort. When he snapped out of his daze, he was only a little more exhausted than before, but otherwise fine.

"Thanks. I mean-not thanks _thanks_ but, thanks." Jason found himself stammering. Piper refused to look at him. She was examining Katoptris. "Yeah, well. If I didn't do that we probably would have gotten killed."

Jason tried to comfort himself-at least Piper was talking to him now.

Most of the venti were gone, only about four were left. Hazel took out one. The other three were circling Percy and Annabeth.

Jason and Piper rushed forward to help, so did Leo, Hazel and Piper. But they were too late.

As soon as Percy took out two, the last one blasted a powerful bolt at Annabeth from behind. Jason wasn't close enough to intercept. But Percy was.

Percy lunged in front of Annabeth, and the bolt hit him instead. Annabeth screamed for the first time since Jason met her.

Jason wanted to scream too. That bolt was extremely powerful, and Percy was more vulnerable to lightning than the rest of them, being the sea god's son and all-water conducted electricity. The sea was in his blood.

The lightning that could injure the rest of them could kill him.

The last remaining venti looked satisfied. _Beware demigods._ Jason heard it whisper before it flew off alone.

Percy's body shuddered once, twice, and his eyes rolled sightlessly back into his head.

**...**

"It's not possible. How can he get hurt?" Annabeth was muttering to herself the entire time Jason and Frank carried Percy down to the sofa. Annabeth sat beside him and kept a hand on his lap.

"Well, looks like everyone needs some ambrosia and nectar. I'll go get it." Frank walked into the kitchen.

"I'll help." Jason used that as an excuse so that he could relive the time he spent with Piper today-in a life-or-death situation. As he walked into the kitchen, he could hear someone groaning.

At least Percy was alright.

They brought the ambrosia and nectar to the living room, where Percy had already woken up. Everyone took a little. Jason could still smell the ozone that came from the sting of Percy's body. Ouch, that must have hurt.

Annabeth was feeding him ambrosia. And again, it was so unfair that his love life was perfect.

When Frank had finished his share, he turned to Annabeth. "Do you know why you even passed out last night?"

Annabeth turned white. "Well, I had this dream..."

She continued to explain what she saw in her dreams. The entire time Percy had a protective arm around her-Jason tried to ignore that and focus on what Annabeth was saying.

Most of it didn't even make sense. Only parts of it did. Like the fact that the 'voice' that Annabeth heard was Thanatos. And the last part of the dream.

A thousand monsters? They were going to need a lot of luck on their side, which, unfortunately, almost never happens.

Annabeth said Thanatos told her to find the Doors. Does that mean she was the one to lead them through their quest?

So many questions, but yet no one had answers.

Percy looked the most uneasy. He kept side-glancing at Hazel and Frank, and they did the same like they were sharing a secret and having a silent argument.

But no one else seemed to notice except for Jason. He therefore decided to look away.

Frank was thinking, hard. Finally he faced Annabeth again. "I guess it's because of the intensity of the dream that you passed out. I'm not exactly sure though. It's just a theory."

Annabeth looked up. She looked exhausted. She had dark circles under her eyes and her face was still flushed. The dream must have taken a lot out of her.

She turned to Percy and frowned. "You have a lot of explaining to do, Seaweed Brain."

Jason knew of the nicknames Percy and Annabeth for each other, someone back at Camp Half-Blood had told him. But what she was referring to, he didn't know.

Percy shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He feigned ignorance. "About what?"

Annabeth folded her arms. Percy pursed his lips. "Alright, fine. I don't have invincibility anymore because I crossed the Little Tiber. You know that river in front of the entrance at Camp Jupiter? Yeah, Jun-Hera said I would lose it because it's a Greek blessing."

Almost everyone seemed stunned that Percy had been invincible before. Piper actually looked excited. "He dipped in the River Styx? He had the Curse of Achilles! Oh my gods! That's amazing!"

She looked at Annabeth and Annabeth blushed.

Frank took Hazel's hand and led her away, while Leo went to the kitchen to prepare their lunch. Piper then got up and started to head into her cabin.

Her face immediately darkened when she saw Jason looking at her.

Jason pressed his head on a pillow from the couch.

What a lovely way to start the day.

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><p><strong>Okay, I think I suck at fight scenes. But I hope overall the chapter was still alright. I know the ending is a little abrupt, but I had no other way to end it. Really sorry.<strong>

**Next two chapters: Piper. Then it's Hazel. Only then can I start talking about the Hazel-Sammy-Leo thing. **

**Pls review! I won't continue the story if you don't...**

**Oh, and, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone!**

**Moonlite Artemis**


	11. XI Piper

**3...2...1... Yay! Happy New Year! To a great 2012! I posted this at 12 midnight in Singapore, but by the time you readers read this, midnight already passed or hasn't even come yet, depending on where you are. It's frustrating that the time difference screws things up. Still, wish you a happy new year.**

**P.S. Next chapter's already been uploaded. Look at the bottom of the page and you'll know why.**

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><p>XI<p>

PIPER

**SURE, THERE HAD **been worse times-her current situation was beaten out in terms of _total and complete crapness _by the time her father had been kidnapped-but still, Piper's life was still fairly terrible at the moment.

Problem no. 1-The issue between the Greeks and the Romans.

Problem no. 2-The world was scheduled to end really soon.

Problem no. 3-Jason.

If Piper were totally honest with herself, she would have to admit that she considered problem no. 3 to be the worst of her woes.

Why wouldn't it be? Before they left Camp Jupiter, Piper had gone back to the barracks to check if anyone had left anything behind. Then she saw Jason walking into a corner. Whether he was alone or with someone, Piper wasn't sure. But she was curious. What was he doing?

Her brain told her to go away and mind her own business, but her heart told her to stay. After all, Jason _was_ her business.

And she really regretted it. Regretted it really badly. Because as soon as she took a peek, all she saw was Reyna lips on Jason's. And he wasn't even doing anything to stop her. He just stood there, dazed, almost holding her waist.

Piper had gasped. She couldn't help it. She didn't think they heard because neither reacted.

She then ran to another corner so she had some privacy to cry. She didn't know why she was acting like that. After their quest she had promised herself she won't force Jason to stay with her, as that would be selfish of her. But now the reality kicks in and she couldn't take it.

Now she couldn't stop being mad at Jason, even though she had a suspicion that it was Reyna that initiated the kiss.

She avoided him at all costs, refused to accept his help, and basically gave him the cold shoulder. Except when she had to charmspeak him into zapping the storm spirits with lightning when he was too tired to do so at his own will. But that was a life or death situation. That was different.

To distract herself, she focused on problem no. 1 and 2.

Annabeth's dream was really scary. But Piper could almost confirm that it was Annabeth who would guide them to the Doors of Death. Annabeth seemed like she didn't know, but Piper was sure it was her. The closer they get to Rome, more signs would probably show.

Once they find out how to get to the Doors of Death and hopefully close them, they could go to Greece and confront the giants. Annabeth had said the army was huge. Piper doubted they could take out so many, even if the two camps worked together.

Which brought her to problem no. 2.

During her quest, Aphrodite had come to her dreams and told her that she was the mediator when the Greeks and the Romans meet. She had hardly done anything back at camp when that Octavian dude protested during the Senate Meeting. But Piper knew that Aphrodite wasn't talking about when only four Greeks (including Percy) meet the Romans would she have to mediate. She was talking about when Camp Half-Blood meets Camp Jupiter.

That was a _much_ bigger scale.

Phrasing it that way made Piper think that whether the Greeks and the Romans could work together or not rested in her hands. That was a lot of pressure.

Come to think about it, there was another problem. Everyone on this ship had some awesome power. Frank could, like morph into any living thing on the planet, Hazel could control all the riches beneath the earth, Annabeth could turn invisible and figure out anything (Plus, she was _wicked_ with a dagger), Leo could manipulate fire and fix or build anything, Jason could control the winds and lightning (though Piper couldn't care less), Percy could direct water and ships, and even create earthquakes and storms, and Piper could _charmspeak_.

Charmspeak.

That's it.

People had told her how lucky she was to be able to charmspeak. "Blessed by your mother!" they'd say. But she didn't feel lucky, not in the least. And, standing beside the six most powerful demigods of this – or_ last_, in Hazel's case – century, she always felt like she didn't deserve to be one of them.

When Piper had finished her ambrosia, she watched Annabeth feed Percy. They looked so cute together.

Piper still couldn't believe that Percy had taken the bolt for Annabeth. He knew he was more vulnerable to lightning than the rest of them, but he still took it for her. Amazing what love makes you do.

If only her relationship-_achem_, love life, was better, her life would be perfect. Well, not entirely perfect, but more perfect than it is now.

After Hazel and Frank had left and Leo went to prepare lunch, Piper got up to head back to her cabin. She needed some alone time and maybe talk to her dad. As she passed, she could actually sense her face darkening when she saw Jason looking at her. Usually she'd blush, but not today. Not after she saw him choose Reyna without telling her. The least he could do was tell her. Like how he didn't tell her when he remembered Reyna back at Camp Half-Blood. She had to eavesdrop on Jason and Annabeth's conversation to find out and pretend she wasn't bothered by it at all.

That really stank.

**...**

Piper sat on her bed and pulled out a laptop from her bag. She had asked Leo if it was safe for her to video conference her dad. He said that it was fine since the cabins had Celestial Bronze plating. But she had to watch her time. Not that it'll take long. Her father barely had time to talk. The time they talk to each other is longer now, once even being five minutes, but that was rare.

She waited for her dad or Mellie to answer once she set up everything. She expected it to be Mellie, since her dad was most likely busy. But to her surprise, her dad's face showed up on the screen.

"Hi, Pipes." His eyes were twinkling. He looked as good as ever-with his half-day beard, his confident smile, his sparkling brown eyes and his newly trimmed hair like he was ready to shoot a scene. He was wearing the leather band (that was fake, or course; Piper wouldn't want to harm an animal) that Piper had given him.

Piper smiled. "Hi, Dad."

He smiled and waved at her. Then he frowned. "Pipes, where are you?" Piper had forgotten to change the background. She racked her brains for a lie. "Oh, I'm on a...field trip to Seattle. The camp instructors thought it'll be great for us to go out for a while." She hadn't been lying much for quite some time, so her mind was a little rusty for it.

Her dad still bought it though. His smile returned. Piper felt warm inside. For the past few months, she went home a couple of times, and her dad always made time for her. Now they were closer. And sometimes Piper felt her dad was the only one she could talk to when she needed some time away from _the-world-is-at-stake-because-the-giants-are-planning-to-overthrow-the-gods_ reality that was her life.

They talked about little things for a few minutes. Then Piper remembered to ask something. "Hey, Dad? Are you free today? You were the one who picked up my call instead of Mellie, and we talked for about-" Piper consulted her watch. "Five minutes."

Her father laughed. "That's because today I took leave. Now I can talk to you as long as I want. That is, until the studio calls in again."

And the studio did call in again, soon afterwards. Her dad looked annoyed, then smiled sheepishly at her. "Gotta go, Pipes. See you when you come back." Piper smiled and nodded at him, though she had a feeling she wasn't going to be seeing her dad anytime soon. Not when the world is ending soon. Really soon.

**...**

That night, Piper couldn't sleep.

She tossed and turned in her bed, feeling just about as unsettled as the sea below her.

She sighed and sat up in her bunk. She heard the steady pounding of the waves against the boat and wanted to sleep more than anything in the world.

Maybe it was the fact that they were getting closer to Rome that made Piper feel uneasy. Or maybe it was because she had too much on her mind.

She really wanted to go and talk to Annabeth or Hazel, but Piper decided against it after she looked across the room and saw Hazel sound asleep. She looked tired. As for Annabeth, she looked worse, like someone had just drained the energy out of her. It was probably the dream.

Before Annabeth went to bed Percy made Hazel and Piper swear up and down that they'll call him if anything happens to Annabeth. Piper looked at Annabeth, whose bunk was underneath hers: She was fast asleep and pressing Percy's blanket to her face. Well, it _should_ be Percy's blanket since there was another one folded up neatly beside her.

Piper didn't want to wake her; as much as she wanted to make sure that Annabeth hadn't passed out in her sleep again, she didn't want to ruin her sleep.

Piper needed some fresh air. The sea always helped clear her mind – it reminded her of good times, like Piper and her dad surfing on their private beach.

She snuck through the corridor, past the boys' cabin below deck. She climbed up the stairs silently and stepped onto the deck.

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><p><strong>This chapter really sucked. I know that. I have writer's block right now. And I sincerely apologize for that. <strong>

**Credits to meeeethegr8. She gave me permission to use her one-shot 'Sleepless Nights' as a reference for chapter XI and XII. I used some sentences for this chapter. The next chapter has much more similarities with her one-shot than this one did. And I didn't entirely copy her one-shot for the next chapter, I changed it a little. **

**Also, credits to .princess. That little bit in the front was from her story 'The Trainees.' Pls go and review her stories. They're wonderfully creative.**

**Next chapter's updated with this one as compensation. Pls still review...**

**Moonlite Artemis**


	12. XII Piper

**Like I said before, this chapter has been updated with the previous one because of certain reasons. I really hope this makes up for the last chapter. In my defence, it was because I had writer's block _because_ the reviews weren't going up much.**

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><p>XII<p>

PIPER

**AS SOON AS PIPER** stepped onto the deck she was hit with a cool blast of sea air.

The stars were gleaming above her, and the round moon shone as bright as a pearl. Piper shaded her eyes and could've sworn she saw a pure black Pegasus fly off into the night.

Bringing her gaze back to Earth, she saw a lone figure gazing out to sea, his back to her.

Piper approached him. "Hey," she said. The guy whirled around to face her, drawing his sword in a split second, but his face relaxed when he saw who it was. He ran his hand through his hair. Piper probably blushed. She finally understood why Annabeth ranted about wanting to run her hands through his hair all day long, because his hair, messy as it was, looked smooth as silk, dark as the sky.

"Hey," Percy Jackson greeted. "Morning. You're up early." He touched the tip of his sword and it shrunk into a ballpoint pen.

"Morning?"

"It's one-thirty," Percy clarified. "So it should be morning."

"Mmm," Piper murmured. She glanced at Percy, who was manipulating the sea water so it made cool shapes in the air. The water morphed into a giant hand and waved playfully at her.

Piper was awestruck at this massive display of power. "Whoa."

An awkward silence.

"Sit," Percy said suddenly, motioning towards a single chair overlooking the vast ocean.

Piper was too tired – and intimidated - to argue. She sat down, and Percy dragged another chair from behind and sat next to her.

Only when she looked at him closely did she realise that he looked exhausted too. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his breathing was slow. Piper then remembered that tonight was actually Annabeth's shift but Percy had insisted that he fill in for her. He had taken two night shifts in a row.

They sat in silence, neither finding anything to say to the other. Piper then realized that she and Percy had never been alone before. It wasn't like Hazel and Leo – oh no, that was_ totally_ different. They'd just never talked for a long time, except for the occasional "Hey," or "You okay?" or maybe a "Good Morning."

Small stuff like that.

_Creak._

Percy groaned. "Not that _again._"

_Creak._

He clapped his hands once, and the creaking noise stopped. The silence was resumed.

Percy fidgeted uncomfortably with his hands with a sort of shyness Piper found really endearing.

"I've heard a lot about you," she suddenly blurted out. "Hero of Olympus, Leader of Camp Half-Blood…everyone knows about you."

Percy smiled. His sea green eyes sparkled. "Same. Tristan McLean's daughter...and of course the great charmspeaker, right?"

Piper scowled. "That's me, all right. But I don't think I deserve that title."

"Why not?"

"I don't know…" Piper fidgeted. "It's just, I don't like controlling people the way I do. It just happens. And I'm not great or anything. To be frank, I don't know why I'm here in the first place."

"Mmm," Percy said. "Sometimes I feel that way too. Like we have to support the world on our shoulders."

Piper sighed. "I know. It's like the gods have said: 'Okay, go defeat the giants. Save the world. We'll see if we can help you. Oh, and you can die anytime. Good luck!'" She began to feel lighter somehow, like talking about her problems had lifted a weight off her chest. She began to relax.

"No pressure there."

Piper laughed. "It sucks, doesn't it?"

"Totally," Percy agreed. "And this whole Greek-and-Roman thing…at first, I didn't know what to think. I wasn't even sure we'd get along."

"Nor was I," Piper agreed. "Especially after Jason told us about how that Octavian guy might be praetor." Piper tried to forget she was ever mad at Jason, and talk about him like he was still her friend.

"Thank gods he didn't, "Percy sighed."The guy's like a bloody snake. But _I_ still feel weird, taking Jason's title like that."

"You shouldn't be," Piper consoled. "Jason doesn't mind it a bit, he almost seems relieved. Plus, you and Jason get along pretty well."

It was true. Percy could get along well with just about anyone, except probably Gaea and her evil minions. He even got along well with Leo, who thought Percy was the coolest thing since Bunker 9.

Percy was a happy-go-lucky sort of person. Jason was more serious. They were so similar yet different, Piper mused. They had the same sad smile, and the aura of power flickering silently around them. They were both natural leaders, but ruled in different ways. Piper smiled to herself. Two of a kind.

She realized Percy was waiting for her to say something.

"I guess this whole 'under pressure' thing isn't really new for you. Or Annabeth. Or Jason. Or Leo. Or even Hazel and Frank for that matter," Piper said. "It is for me. I've never lost someone that close to me; I don't have a very tragic past, and...and I'm scared."

Percy smiled sympathetically. "We all are. And even though supporting the fate of the world isn't very new for me, I'm pretty freaked out now, and I was _shit_ scared the first time, even though I had the Curse of Achilles. Only Annabeth knew my weak spot, and even she admitted it was a lot to carry."

Piper sighed. "Oh, well. What can we do, really? It's not like we can _run away_."

"Uh-huh. Problems follow us demigods wherever we go."

Another silence followed this, but not so awkward this time.

"Friends," came a mutter from above. Percy and Piper jumped. "Ten seasons," the voice said again. "1994 to 2004."

Piper relaxed when she glanced upward and saw Ella the Harpy roosting on the mast.

You know," she said, "she was pretty broken after your disappearance. Annabeth, I mean."

Percy didn't respond, so Piper ploughed on. "She cried for days. She just wouldn't give up the search. She's better now and all, but, seeing her like that was...moving," she decided. "Really put my suffering into perspective."

It was true. Seeing Annabeth so emotional over Percy made Piper wonder if competing with Jason's past was really worth it.

Percy's eyes turned dark. Piper's first impression of Percy was that he was almost like an undercover god or something. She still felt like he should be on the cover of _Demigod Vogue_ or something, but she didn't like him the way she (used to) liked Jason. She liked Percy like a sister would.

"I know," Percy whispered after a short pause. "I still feel bad about it, even though everyone says it wasn't my fault. At least I remembered her, though. Imagine if I hadn't."

Piper shuddered. "I don't want to. But she's awesome with a dagger. She probably would've just skewered you and left it at that."

It was Percy's turn to shudder, but he composed himself and changed the topic. "I heard you use a dagger too." He said this quickly, and Piper got the feeling he was shaken up at how affected his girlfriend was at his disappearance.

Piper drew Katoptris reluctantly. The bronze shone like a faint lamp in the moonlight.

"I still wonder," Piper said faintly, "whether I'm good enough to use this. I mean, it was _Helen of Troy's_, for gods' sake. I don't know whether I'm worthy to wield it in battle." She looked at her serious reflection in the metal and sighed.

"Of course you are," Percy said immediately. "Why wouldn't you be?"

"I don't even know whether I'm good enough to be _here_."

Percy reached over and touched her arm. Others might have seen it as a sign of love or romance or something like that, but when Piper looked at Percy, the look in his eyes was a completely brotherly kind of look. She couldn't help noticing the letters SPQR burnt into his tanned skin like Jason's, but with only one line running across the tattoo.

"You are good enough to be here," Percy said confidently. "You have awesome powers and you're a great person. And you and that dagger make a deadly combo. I wouldn't want to face you. And..." he hesitated, like he was making a decision. "You remind me of her. Silena. I didn't know her_ that_ well, but she was always really nice to me and I'm sure she'd be proud to have a sister like you."

Piper felt better instantly and she squeezed his hand in return. "Thanks. It means a lot." She felt like she could glow with happiness. All her troubles seemed to be slipping away.

"Besides," Percy smirked, "You can _still_ use your dagger as a mirror. Might want to use it to even out that choppy hair of yours."

"You're one to talk," Piper joked. "You hair is just as bad as mine."

"Cut me some slack," Percy grinned. "I'm a _guy_. We're not supposed to worry about this sort of stuff when Gaea and the Giants are on the loose."

Piper grinned and ruffled his hair, which made Percy pout like a little kid, and then they were laughing.

Piper was so surprised at first that she almost stopped, but then she realized she was laughing – actually _laughing out loud_ – and she hadn't done it in _so long_ and it felt _so good_, so she just continued. She felt completely at ease with Percy now. She could hardly believe that things had been so awkward between them before.

Percy controlled himself, and suddenly sat up straight and gazed at her. "You like Jason, don't you?"

Piper's cheeks felt hot. She looked down. She had been hoping to avoid this topic, but she couldn't lie to those green eyes, almost X-raying her. She swallowed and took a shaky breath before speaking.

"Is it that obvious? She laughed shakily. It sounded fake in her ears.

He grinned. "Kinda."

Piper looked down again. "Well, I don't know anymore." Piper felt her anger start to bubble within her.

She heard Percy exhale. "Tell me about it."

Piper knew she was being stubborn but she couldn't help it. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, though I don't know the story, I do kinda know Jason from talks around camp-the Roman camp, I mean. He's a good guy. And," he hesitated again. "I know he likes you too. I can tell. Even though sometimes I'm rather..."

"Obtuse?" Piper looked up and smiled for a second before looking back down.

She heard Percy laugh. Her heart warmed a little. "Yeah, obtuse. But I do know he likes you too. It's rather obvious, if even someone like me can tell."

He touched her arm again. "I don't know what Jason did that you're so upset about. But I have a...small idea how he's feeling. I mean, I lost my memory too. I can relate."

"That's different. You never forgot Annabeth." Piper gritted her teeth.

For some reason Piper felt compelled to look up at him. His sea-green eyes bore deep into her kaleidoscopic ones. "We've been through a lot together. I will never forget her. But...I just want you to know...give him a chance. At least for him to explain. You can't believe everything you see or heard. There must be an explanation." He pursed his lips. "Think about what I said, would you? Give him a second chance to prove himself. That he likes you and not..." He hesitated once again.

"Reyna." Piper felt a bitter taste in her mouth once the name slipped off her tongue.

Percy winced and looked down. Piper didn't know it was because of what she said or his wound still hurt.

He looked up and bit his lip. "Just think about it will you? For me? I want you to be happy."

Piper felt warm inside. He was so much like a brother.

She nodded.

"Good." He patted her arm, looking satisfied. "Now go get some sleep."

"You'll be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll sound the alarm if monsters attack." He half-hugged her. It had become a kind of habit amongst them, hugging the other because they don't know which day could be their last.

Piper stood on her toes and kissed him on the forehead, the way older sisters do. It was kind of like a little blessing from her side. She felt warm and happy. "Okay. Good night then, Percy."

"Good _morning,_" Percy corrected, but his eyes were soft. Then he shook his head rapidly, like a dog shaking off water. "Gods, I think my lovely girlfriend is teaching me too much."

Piper laughed, turned and made her way over to the stairs leading to the lower deck and her room. She glanced over her shoulder for a moment and saw Percy chatting to something in the sea, maybe a dolphin or a shark or a starfish or something.

Smiling, she made her way down the stairs, feeling unusually light-hearted and happy, even if she felt tired. She had a feeling she'd be able to sleep that night. She could think about what he said tomorrow. _After_ she got some sleep.

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><p><strong>ALL CREDITS GO TO meeeethegr8! Thank you for giving me permission to use your fanfic 'Sleepless Nights'.<strong>

**To everyone else: I only changed some at the front and some at the back.**

**Pls go and review meeeethegr8's one-shot... She's an amazing writer!**

**Moonlite Artemis**


	13. XIII Hazel

**So, I'm still having writer's block and in the midst of deciding whether I should delte this story or continue. I'm kinda bored of writing the front part so I'll try to get to _real_ action soon, even if they are still travelling. Pls read on.**

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><p>XIII<p>

HAZEL

**HAZEL SAT UP** groggily in her bed.

She squinted her eyes and looked around the room. Annabeth and Piper were both still asleep. The former had a blanket pressed to her face, while the latter turned around so her back was facing Hazel. She was hugging her pillow.

Hazel sighed. Ever since the Greeks arrived she had been spending all her time with Frank, using him as a distraction, when all she wanted was to talk to Sam-Leo. Just having a theory that Leo was Sammy's grandkid was not good enough for Hazel. She wanted to know more about him.

All she knew was that Leo was a child of Vul-Hephaestus, and that he is the first demigod child of Hephaestus in hundreds of years to master their natural ability of Pyrokinesis, the ability to generate and control flames and hot temperatures. And that he was a great mechanic.

Other than that, she didn't know anything else about him.

Yesterday after the fight with the _venti_, Frank had pulled her aside to talk to her. Somehow he understood her fierce desire to know who Leo really was.

"I don't want you to hurt yourself, trying to find out things that aren't good for you." Frank had told her. Then she had snapped at him, but quickly apologised. Frank had taken her hand. "Just...don't go overboard, okay?"

Hazel sighed again. She felt bad even _thinking_ about sticking to Leo when Frank was being so nice to her, but if she wanted to find out the truth, that was the only way.

-**o**-

Once everyone had woken up they had breakfast. Hazel felt really uneasy. Maybe it was because the mood was dark. Maybe it was because Percy just informed them that they were about three thousand nautical miles away, and if they travelled faster, they would probably reach land in about five, six days or so. Plus a few days to fly because Rome was inland. Only a few days left to their doom.

After breakfast, everyone scattered. Percy went to take a nap; Annabeth followed him with a book in her hand. Piper wasn't avoiding Jason as much as before, even sitting on the same couch as him for a while. Frank was cleaning his bow. Leo was nowhere to be seen.

Hazel thought that Leo would be in the 'captain's cabin' as he called it. But he didn't stay in it. He kept all his projects in there, so the rest of them called it 'Leo's personal building box'. It was true, actually. Leo spent quite a lot of time there building things. He treated it like his workshop, making the inside even look like one.

As Hazel turned to walk to the building box, Frank made a coughing noise. He raised his eyebrows at her, and she gave him the _everything's-all-right_ gesture.

She hesitated at the door. She could hear someone hammering against something and someone clearing his throat. Leo.

She felt awkward finding him for no apparent reason, so she ran back to the kitchen to get him a bottle of water before going back to knock on the door.

He might have answered and told her to enter, but she couldn't hear with all the noises. She entered anyway.

Leo was bent over his workshop table. There were two empty chairs on either side. One held a chainsaw. The other was empty. Leo was standing and hasn't noticed Hazel. The place was humid and hot, Hazel couldn't believe Leo could stand being in here for so long.

"Hi." Hazel tried. Leo still hasn't heard her because he was using the drill. "Hey!" Hazel yelled a little.

"Oh, hey." Leo turned around and smiled at her. Hazel blushed. "What's up?" Leo beckoned Hazel over. She dragged a chair over beside him and set the bottle of water on the table. "I got you some water." Hazel blushed again, not because it was so hot in here. She thought what she said was kind of unnecessary.

Leo grinned. "Thanks." Hazel looked at him closely. He looked so much like Sammy. He had a mischievous glint in his eyes. He, like Sammy, looked like Latino Santa's elf, with curly black hair, pointy ears, a cheerful baby face and a mischievous smile that matched his personality perfectly.

Hazel watched as he gulped down the water, then set the bottle back on the table. He wiped away the sweat on his forehead with his arm, then started to hammer...whatever he was working on.

Hazel became a little confused; he was acting as if she wasn't there. She cleared her throat, rather loudly.

Leo raised his eyebrows. Hazel bit the inside of her cheek.

"You need something, Hazel?"

Hazel searched her brain for something to say to him. "Um...I just wanna...um...talk to you...you know...while you work?" For some reason, the end of her sentence ended like a question.

Leo shrugged. He took something out from his pocket, wound it up and set it on the table.

Hazel gasped. "It's beautiful!"

The wind-up toy was a little horse made of gleaming bronze. It looked like Arion, with a nice mane and streamline body. It moved its way towards Hazel, stopping at her fingers. Hazel smiled as she carefully picked it up.

She felt it gingerly with her fingers, tracing the lines of the cravings. She looked at Leo, still holding it in her hands.

Leo laughed. "You can keep it if you want." He took it from her and wound it up again.

Hazel couldn't believe her ears. "Really?"

Leo nodded and showed her how to wound it up. She took it in her hands once again. "Thanks."

Leo grinned at her the same time Jason came in.

"Hey, man. You got a screwdriver I can borrow?" He muttered. Leo dug into his toolbox and pulled out one. He tossed it at Jason and he caught it in mid-air. "Thanks, bro."

"Anytime." Leo went back to hammering as Jason waved at Hazel before closing the door behind him.

Now, Leo was lost in his thoughts again and didn't seem to notice Hazel. Again.

Hazel thought this would be a good time to start a conversation.

"So," she said over his hammering. She put down her wind-up toy and tried to look casual. "How was the Underworld?"

Leo gave her an amused look. "You tell me. Aren't you our Underworld expert?" He grinned and put down his hammer.

"Right." Hazel bit her lip. "So, uh...have you...died lately?" She asked as Leo gulped down some water.

Too late, she realised her mistake. Leo choked on his water and spit most of it out. Hazel winced.

Leo turned to her with a look on his face, his eyebrows raised. "Excuse me?"

Hazel felt her cheeks go red. "Um...I was just wondering, you know...now that the Doors of Death are open...you know..." She stammered. "Um...never mind."

Leo was still looking at her with his mouth wide open. Then he seemed to get his shock under control. He took a breath and continued to work.

But Hazel could still see the looks of shock on his face. She contemplated asking Piper to charmspeak Leo into forgetting anything Hazel ever said to Leo, or she could just...

RUN.

And she did. She burst out of the door, running and not stopping till she reached the girls' cabin.

She dove into her bed and pressed her face onto her pillow. Only then did she realise that she left her gift from Leo back at his workshop.

-**o**-

"I'm sure he'll give you a chance to explain." Frank consoled her and patted her hand. The move sent tingles up her spine, but now the only thing on her mind was Sammy/Leo.

It seems like she was pathetically following Leo around like a poor lost puppy. Hazel couldn't believe she flat out and ask him if he was Sammy and then, on top of that, asked him if he'd died lately. How's that for a pick up line? Hazel felt like hitting her head against a wall. Leo probably thought she was some creepy emo girl who likes dead was wrong with her?

She groaned into her pillow and shook her head.

"How about I talk to him?" Frank tried. Hazel shook her head again. She knew this was hard for Frank, watching Hazel chase her supposedly old boyfriend (or not).

"You can't just lie here all day, avoiding him. You're gonna have to talk to him sooner or later."

_Try me_, Hazel wanted to snap, but she shut her mouth, knowing she'd feel guilty if she did snap at him again.

There was a soft knock at the door. "Come in," Frank called over his shoulder. Piper was at the doorway, screwdriver in one hand and a horse shape wound-up toy in the other. Jason was standing behind her, looking a little embarrassed.

Hazel looked up from her pillow. Piper walked over to her and handed her the toy. It was the one she had left at Leo's workshop. "Leo told me to pass it to you." Piper explained. It was clear that she knew something was wrong between Hazel and Leo.

Hazel took the toy from Piper's hand. "Thanks." Piper smiled and nodded, before heading out, Jason at her tail.

Frank looked at her, expectant. Hazel shrugged her shoulders. "He gave this to me, before I freaked him out." Frank nodded, ever so understanding.

Hazel pressed her face into her pillow again. Her life-sorry, _lives_-stank. A lot.

How could she be so stupid? Leo wasn't Sammy. Sammy was a mortal, while Leo is a demigod. Besides, Sammy was long gone. He got married, had kids and died. She was never going to see him ever again. Why couldn't she accept that? Even if he was Sammy, which he wasn't, there wasn't anything going on between them back then, so why would there be anything going on forty years later. Why was she being so stupid? And why is it they look _so_ alike?

Hazel groaned into her pillow as Frank continued to comfort her.

An ear-piercing scream cut through the air. Followed by a lot of yelling. Hazel looked up from her pillow immediately and exchanged glances with Frank.

Clearly, something was wrong.

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><p><strong>I'm running out of confidence for this story.<strong>

**So pls, pretty pls be kind enough to REVIEW...**

**Moonlite Artemis**


	14. XIV Hazel

**If you all are getting bored of this not so climatic part, pls review. Coz action is coming up soon.**

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><p>XIV<p>

HAZEL

**HAZEL THOUGHT SHE **had seen Percy and Jason at their most powerful. Evidently, she was wrong. Probably even now they weren't even showing the full extent of their powers.

When she and Frank rushed out onto the deck, Percy and Jason were off the ship: Jason was zipping through the air with sparks at his fingertips, while Percy was riding a massive hurricane of his own, complete with thunder, clouds and lightning. Whirlpools formed on either side of him.

Only when Hazel squinted did she realise what they were chasing.

A huge gryphon was zipping through the air just as fast as Jason and Percy. In his claws was a struggling Annabeth.

Ella the Harpy was squawking in terror. Hazel was afraid their little friend might get hurt; she managed to convince Ella to hide inside the ship until this was over. "Ella will hide. Ella will be safe." She nodded and with that, their little harpy friend zipped down the stairs.

Leo stood by the deck, flames in his hands, ready to throw fireballs. Once Piper saw that she immediately slapped his arm. "Don't," she warned. "We're not close enough. We might hit Annabeth. Let Percy and Jason handle it."

Hazel didn't think they could. The gryphon was flying around, trying to wear them out, and it also making it hard to hit it when Annabeth was in his claws. Annabeth's dagger was in his beak, but even if she had it with her, she won't be able to use it. Not when the gryphon was grasping her arms and basically immobilising her. Piper herself didn't look convinced by what she said.

Her eyes suddenly widened. She ran to Frank. "Could you get me close enough to it? I could charmspeak it into letting her go." Frank nodded and grew wings and talons. In a matter of seconds he was an eagle. Piper swiftly got on and Frank soared into the air, heading straight towards the gryphon.

Hazel felt a little jealous Piper was riding her boyfriend when she herself hadn't, but this wasn't the time. They had to save Annabeth. Hazel was sure Annabeth was the one who was supposed to lead them to the Doors of Death. Not only would they be lost without her, Percy would be so upset. Hazel wouldn't want to see him upset; he was her friend and was like a brother to her.

Hazel heard a humming sound behind her, loud and clear. Her ears buzzed and her senses tingled. She turned around and saw Frank's quiver of bows lying on the deck. He must have left it there. The tips of the arrows were made of Imperial Gold. Hazel hesitated. Imperial Gold was a lot harder to control then normal treasures: her control might not be that good. But she had no choice.

Hazel took a deep breath and took the arrows. She hoped Frank wouldn't mind her using his stuff.

Hazel willed the arrows to lift themselves up. She took it slow and made only one arrow float. As she was trying to get an aim, the ship rocked and changed direction. Hazel turned around. Leo was at the wheel, turning it. Then he gave Hazel a thumbs-up: they were heading closer so she could get a good shot. Part of her wanted to do a dance: Leo wasn't freaked out by her! But the other sensible part of her slapped her, and told her to focus on the task at hand.

With the ship closer to the target, she could get a better aim. She launched her first arrow, letting it whizz through the air. It hit the monster's beak, but he simply shook his head and continued flying.

Piper and Frank were trying to get close, but every time they did, the gryphon just swatted them away. Jason and Percy were tiring down too, with the gryphon playing with them. Jason was soaring lower now, when he almost touched the water's surface he swooped up again, but it was obvious he couldn't hold much longer. Percy seemed to be holding up much better, still retaining his hurricane, but his whirlpools had gotten smaller. Hazel figured the only reason Percy was holding up better than Jason was because he more motivated to save Annabeth.

They were running out of time. Hazel launched a few arrows at once repeatedly, till she was left with only three.

Percy must have been frustrated; he summoned a huge wave that towered over the gryphon, making its only way out towards them. Hazel inwardly groaned. Shouldn't he have done that before?

Jason launched a ball of electricity at the gryphon. It missed, but it hit the wave behind him and the wave's surface became crawling with electricity. Percy willed the wave to form a funnel underneath the gryphon, sucking it in. It squawked and flapped its wings.

Piper was finally able to get close enough. But either it was too noisy for it to hear her charmspeak, or it wasn't affected by it at all. The gryphon swatted Piper off Frank. She would have fallen into the icy seas, except that Frank had caught her before she touched the surface of the waves. He flew back to the ship to drop Piper off. They were panting, with Frank back in his human form. It was obvious neither she nor Frank could help, no matter how much they wanted to.

The rest of them looked at each other and nodded. They had to end this. Quick.

Jason sent another bolt hurling towards the monster, while Percy strained to keep the funnel just powerful enough to immobilise the monster, but not enough to suck Annabeth in. Hazel let her remaining arrows fly. As they soared, the ends of the arrows suddenly lit up with flames. Hazel almost fell over the deck when she saw that. She turned towards Leo, who was playing with fire in his hands. He winked.

The gryphon did the natural thing. He threw Annabeth up in the air. And because of the funnel, Annabeth was sucked back and became right in the middle of the target.

Oh gods.

Percy's first instinct was yelling "NO!" Then he released the funnel which blasted Annabeth back up. But that was what the gryphon expected. Now it was free. Percy skidded across the waves, trying to catch Annabeth, who looked like she was unconscious; Hazel would be too. After being thrown into the air and carried around in circles, Hazel probably would have thrown up. She was surprised Annabeth didn't.

He was a little too late. The gryphon swooped up and took Annabeth in its claws again. A portal opened up in front of it and the monster zipped through it, vanishing without another trace.

Everything returned to normal and seemed like it hadn't changed a bit. But it made all the difference in the world.

-**o**-

Hazel was really worried about Percy.

After Annabeth had gone, the waves became so rocky the ship was pushed around. It seemed like even the sea floor was shaking. Piper had to charmspeak Percy into calming down. Then the rest of them returned to the ship. They all stayed around the living room. Ella probably sensed the dark mood. She sat next to Percy and patted his leg with her wing.

Hazel sat next to Ella. Ella looked at her and tilted her head. Hazel forced a smile and told her quietly, "Annabeth's captured. Percy's sad."

"Percy is sad." Ella repeated sadly. Then she perked up. "Annabeth?" She tilted her head again. "Annabeth Chase. Daughter of Athena. _Wisdom's_"

Percy, Frank and Hazel simultaneously looked at each other in panic. "Ella, don't!" Too late.

"_Wisdom's daughter walks alone, the mark of Athena burns through Rome_." Ella recited, then she looked curiously at the rest of them as if nothing had happened.

Everyone was stunned for a while. Until Jason broke the silence. "You guys...never told us of the prophecy?" It was obvious he knew the three of them had been hiding something for some time now. Piper stood up and placed a hand on Jason's shoulder. She seemed a lot calmer than Jason was. "You guys, you can't stop a prophecy from happening. This is about Annabeth, isn't it? You shouldn't have kept it a secret. At least you could have at least told us."

Leo stuffed his hands in his pockets and cleared his throat. "Yeah man, not cool." Then he looked down.

Hazel watched for Percy and Franks' reaction. Frank was looking at the floor, not meeting anyone's eyes. Percy had his fists clenched and his jaw was squared. As Jason, and occasionally Piper, talked, his fists clenched even harder and his breathing became unsteady.

"Enough!" He finally exploded. His eyes were red. Hazel didn't think they were like that because anger. "I get it, okay? We shouldn't have kept anything from you. This is _all_ my fault, okay? Don't blame Hazel or Frank. I was the one who told them not to say anything because I didn't want my girlfriend to know. Even Hera came to my dreams and told me she would be trouble when we get to Rome. But I'm selfish. This is ALL. MY. FAULT. Blame it all on me!"

He breathed heavily and his jaw chattered. Hazel realised he was crying. She figured Percy _would_ be upset. After all, he hadn't seen his girlfriend for so long and now she was taken from him when he could have done something about it. Hazel knew he must be blaming himself for it.

He swallowed then dashed up the stairs. The rest of them followed just soon enough to see him dive into the water.

"He just needs some time. He'll be back." Piper didn't look so sure, even as she said it.

Hazel didn't see Percy again until after dinner. He had simply trudged down the stairs without a word, went into the boys' cabin and slammed the door shut.

They all looked at each other but no one said anything. They just went back to doing what they were doing before. But Hazel could tell there was a lot on their minds.

Hazel sighed to herself and closed her eyes for a while. The weird thing was, when she opened her eyes she wasn't in the living room of the Argo II anymore. She was in an orchard. An apple orchard, to be specific. Ripe apples were all over the ground. It was at night and the stars were so clearly visible. They were bright enough to light up the way. Nearby Hazel could hear some yelling, and the sound of a few people fighting. From where the sounds came from, it looked like there was some light from a fire.

The Hazel blinked again. The vision was gone. She was back in the ship.

Hazel was sure that wasn't a blackout. Ella had promised she wouldn't have anymore blackouts, and besides, she had never been in an orchard before. It didn't seem like something Gaia would show her either.

Everyone started to get up to retire for the night. It was enough for a day. As much as Hazel desperately wanted to tell someone of what she saw, she knew everyone was tired and just wanted to go to bed.

She had no choice but to follow.

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><p><strong>Okay, NOW this story is getting somewhere. Like I said, I was getting bored of writing the first part...<strong>

**Also, PLS REVIEW! I'll really appreciate it.**

**Moonlite Artemis**


	15. XV Jason

**Hi ppl. So, finally I can get to some real action, at least on the next chapter. This one starts it off, so pls you all lovely readers continue reading my story.**

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><p>XV<p>

JASON

**JASON WAS HAVING** a great day before that stupid monster attacked.

For one reason or another, Piper started to talk to him again. It had something to do with last night. But Jason couldn't care less. Piper was talking to him again! AND in a friendly way. That was something to celebrate. He was afraid Piper would be mad at him for life.

They spent the day talking and just chatting about things, and it made Jason feel lighter and a lot happier than he had been since they started their journey to Rome. When the day turned nice and sunny, they went outside to relax, and Piper even offered to show him a trick of how to bend a screwdriver without breaking it.

When he had gone downstairs to get a screwdriver from Leo, he had seen Hazel inside talking to Leo. There was definitely something going on with those two. But at that point Jason felt dazed and not really bothering about anything else. Then after Piper went to return the screwdriver with Jason, Leo asked them to pass a small wind-up toy to Hazel. It was a really cute thing, and Jason was wondering why Leo was giving Hazel a gift. Hazel was dating Frank. However, he lost all train of thought when Piper's hand brushed his arm. It made his skin tingle. After that they went back up to the deck just to enjoy the sunshine while it lasted. And that's when that monster attacked.

Well, not really _attacked_, more like it swooped out from nowhere, let out a squawk, and as quick as lightning captured Annabeth in its claws.

When Annabeth tried to unsheathe her dagger, the gryphon bit her arm and took her dagger in his mouth. As she screamed, Jason could actually see the ruby red blood from her arm dripping into the sea bellow.

Percy had grabbed him by the shirt and instructed (more like yelled) at him to save her. So Jason had launched himself into the air while Percy formed a hurricane under his feet and started towards the monster, showing an _awesome so totally cool_ display of power.

At some point Hazel and Frank must have gotten onto the deck because he could see Piper flying an eagle. Where else would they get an eagle in the middle of the ocean? Jason could only deduce that Frank was the eagle she was riding.

Jason could barely hear anything as he zipped through the air.

That stupid thing was kinda smart for a monster. It tried to wear them out, and making it difficult to hit him with Annabeth still in his claws. Jason didn't dare take the risk. He didn't want to hit Annabeth Chase, even by accident. Then he would have to face the wrath of her _and_ her boyfriend the famous Percy Jackson, the one who fought Kronos himself and Polybotes, the bane of his own father.

So the only thing he could do was wait for an opening. Not the best plan he had, but what else could he do?

When he had started to feel tired he began to droop, and when he swooped up again he could feel his energy draining from him rather quickly. He knew he couldn't hold up much longer.

Then they decided to end it and the gryphon put Annabeth right in the middle of the target. And to prevent her from getting hurt, Percy released the funnel, letting the monster free. And, as a bonus, it managed to recapture Annabeth before he disappeared into a portal.

Just great. Now they had no idea how they were going to find the Doors of Death and Percy was a mess.

Jason knew he wasn't being so sensitive yelling at Hazel, Frank and Percy when Annabeth had just been captured, but he himself felt frustrated and wanted to let it out. Now he was feeling so guilty.

He couldn't find a chance to talk to Percy and apologise. By the time Percy actually came back he had immediately went into the boys' cabin without acknowledging himself to the rest of them. And it was getting late. Jason felt exhausted.

The second his head hit his pillow he drifted off to sleep.

-**o**-

Being a demigod he never got a break. As soon as he fell asleep, dreams found him.

He found himself in a dark corridor, though it didn't seem like the same one Annabeth described in her dream. The floor was wet and the air smelt musty. He carefully treaded across the stone floor, stopping every once in a while to see if he was being followed. When he heard some noises he quickly pressed his back against the stone wall, though he didn't think he could be seen. But just to be sure.

There were footsteps on the other side of the wall.

"Where is our prisoner?" A girl's voice commanded. If Jason didn't know better, that was probably Khione. But maybe she was somewhere else and this was another girl. Another evil villainess in his life. How nice.

"Wh...which one, my lady?" A guy's voice came this time. He sounded afraid. Maybe it was a soldier or servant or something.

The girl _tsk_ed. "The boy, you nincompoop." Jason could tell she was rolling her eyes. "Where did you take him to?" The boy. That would most likely mean Nico di Angelo. That ambassador of Pluto who was actually a son of Hades. Hazel's brother.

"The dungeon, m'am." The guard stammered.

The girl's voice turned dangerously soft. Jason knew she was trying to hold back her rage. "The dungeon. The one underground. Did you perhaps, remember to put a light source near him?"

"N...no, my lady." No sooner did he finish his sentence was he blown back and hit a wall. Jason heard a _thump_, and the guy groaning.

He moaned as Jason thought he was being picked up by the girl. Jason strained to hear what she was saying as she spoke softly at first, getting louder as she talked.

"Did you or did you not forget that he could shadow-travel away?" The girl yelled at him.

The guy whimpered. Very manly.

"Then where is the girl? Our new prisoner. You did not put her in the same dungeon as the boy, did you?"

The guy whimpered again. Jason could actually hear him gulping. "Yes, m'am"

"Argh!" She yelled again and it sounded like he was being blasted back again. After that it sounded that the guy was being beaten up. A while later he was thrown to the floor, groaning in pain. The girl breathed heavily and picked him up again. "You do realise you will have to bear all responsibility. You have just ruined our plan to capture the son of Poseidon and his friends. Lord Mimas would not be pleased to hear this." The girl said the last sentence mostly to herself. Then she threw the guard down and walked away.

Mimas? Wasn't that one of the giants? Who was he born to oppose?

For some reason Jason couldn't remember, even though after he came back from his quest last winter he studied the giants with Annabeth and Piper. And the girl prisoner she was referring to could be Annabeth. That meant Nico could help Annabeth escape.

Jason took a deep breath and cautiously peeked out of his hiding space. The guard who got hit saw him immediately. Jason's eyes went wide. The guy's mouth was bloody, but he managed to croak, "Beware, demigod. Pain and misery awaits you."

Then everything evaporated like the dream it was.

-**o**-

When they had breakfast the next day there were two empty seats at the table. One, of course, belonged to Annabeth. The other belonged to Percy. Jason didn't know when Percy would be at the table since he was waiting for everyone to be there before he told them his dream, but when they were halfway through breakfast Percy still hadn't showed up, so he told the rest of them first.

"Mimas?" Piper said as soon as he finished. "He _is_ one of the giants. He was born to oppose Hephaestus/Vulcan, I think." As soon as she said that Leo choked on his waffle and Piper had to pat his back. Hazel looked uneasy. More uneasy than the rest of them. Jason didn't know why, but he knows for sure what he himself was uneasy about; another giant to worry about. Whoopee.

They finished the rest of their meal in silence. When most of them were about to finish, Percy came through the door. His hair was messy and he wasn't wearing a shirt. He only had his jeans on.

Frank and Leo coughed. Hazel's eyes went wide before she looked away. Piper blushed and looked down. Jason tried to ignore the pang of jealousy in his heart. It was so not fair Percy could attract girls to him so easily. Especially someone like Piper.

Percy ran a hand through his hair. Then he looked at Leo. Well, to be fair, he was talking to all of them, but his main focus was Leo.

"We're approaching land. You need to get the ship up."

Frank's waffle fell out of his mouth when his jaw dropped. Hazel looked at him in surprise, eyebrows raised. "But you said, we won't be there until..."

"Yeah, well." Percy stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Piper stood up and spoke carefully. "Percy, you didn't spend the night making the ship speed, did you?"

Percy didn't meet her eyes.

"You have to admit, that's pretty cool." Leo was saying, that is, until Piper smacked his arm. Then he swallowed his waffle and stood up. "I'll go get the ship in the air." He quickly went out of the room.

Hazel looked at Percy. "Why don't you go take a break first? Or have breakfast?" Percy shook his head. Frank stood up. "Then just go and rest or something." Percy nodded and left.

For the next few hours they flew at surprising speeds across the air. And Jason realised Percy could still control the ship even if it was in the air.

Jason felt much better now that they were flying. They were in his father's domain now. Part of the reason why the last few days he felt uneasy was because they were on the sea, but now he felt much better.

He kept thinking about his dream the night before; the guard actually warned him. Maybe he wasn't really on the giants' side at all.

But he lost all train of thought when there was a loud grinding noise from the ship.

Leo's mumble 'That can't be good' was the last thing he heard before the Argo II gave a violent shudder as it began to fall from the night sky.

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><p><strong>On the next chapter, I can finally introduce another new character(that RR hasn't used) from Greek mythology! Believe me, I've done my research.<strong>

**Oh and those of you who are thinking about the giant Mimas, I'll tell you upfront. Bacisally, Mimas was killed by Hepheastus in the first Giant War with a volley of molten iron. And as I said, he was born to oppose Hepheastus/Vulcan. About who is going to defeat him, I'm not so deep in my plot yet, but I hope you'll keep reading.**

**FYI, Annabeth and Nico would be shown soon enough, but not that soon, in future chapters, to say the least.**

**Thx for reading, and as always, don't forget to review!**

**Moonlite Artemis**


	16. XVI Jason

**So, now it'll get interesting. YES! I'm so excited. This is where the fun really begins.**

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><p>XVI<p>

JASON

**AS THEY FELL**, Jason could feel Piper's charmspeaking filling her lungs without her knowing, making the rest of them feel nothing but dread. Jason thought her scream could be heard around the world.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Frank and Hazel falling one way, and Leo and Percy falling another, together with the ship. Jason himself fell in an entirely different direction along with Piper. But with him being under Piper's charmspeaking trance, he couldn't focus on much.

Beneath them were trees and apples were all over the ground, so it must be an apple orchard.

Jason managed to catch Piper mid-fall and he willed the winds to cushion their fall. They slowly descended onto the ground. Once their feet hit, Piper pulled him into a bone crushing hug. As much as he needed to breathe, he couldn't seem to bring himself to tell Piper to let go. Then finally he told her, "Oxygen becoming an issue."

"Oh, sorry." Piper immediately pulled back, a little red in the cheeks. Jason himself was entirely red in the face.

"Thanks for catching me." Piper looked around. "Where do you think we are?" All around them were apple trees. They seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. "Dunno." Jason replied truthfully. "We got separated from the others when the ship fell." He said, even though he thought it was kinda obvious already. Why did it seem like he stammered and couldn't think straight when Piper was around?

Piper tip-toed and looked worriedly in another direction. Then she came back on her feet. "I hope they're alright. Where's the ship?"

Jason scratched his head. "I think it fell in the same direction as Percy and Leo." He hesitated. "Do you think I should fly-?"

"No!" Piper said so forcefully Jason was alarmed. Her eyes were filled with worry and panic. Jason touched her hand and lowered his voice. "Relax, I'm just gonna hover and get a lay off the land."

Piper took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay."

Jason lifted himself into the air and did a 360-spin. Then he floated back down again.

"I didn't see any signs," Jason frowned; this place was making him uneasy for some reason.

"Oh great. Then did you see any sign of the ship, or the others?" Piper fingered her braids. Jason shook his head. His hand inched towards his _gladius_. "I don't like this place, Piper. We better start moving. Find some shelter. Something isn't right." Piper took a deep breath and nodded.

As they set off through the apple orchard cautiously, both of them pulled out their weapons for reassurance. Piper occasionally looked at Katoptris and pursed her lips. Jason wanted to comfort her, but he had no idea how to.

"Look!" Piper said suddenly. They had reached a bend and Jason saw that there was a shack with some light on in the distance. Jason hesitated. Something _definitely_ wasn't right here. Especially that shack.

But they had to try. Maybe it was just a mortal they could ask for help. He had to get Piper to safety. "Should we see whose home?"

Piper knitted her eyebrows. "I don't like this. Maybe we should go back."

"Piper," Jason said. "If we do we might get lost. We'll have a better chance of finding Leo and the others if we could get some help. There might be a mortal who knows the land."

"Or a monster." Piper looked at him sceptically.

"Do we really have another choice?" Jason reasoned. Piper didn't say anything. She examined the shack wearily. "Fine, let's see whose home."

The shack sat underneath an apple tree, with some of the apples toppled onto the roof. The shack itself was old and made entirely of wood. Some wooden planks were missing from the porch and one of the steps. The wooden banister was missing its right side and there was only one window with a thick curtain that stopped viewers from looking in. But Jason could still see a light cast behind it and he couldn't stop an eerie chill from going down his back.

Just as Jason knocked on the old wooden door, Piper gasped a little. Jason followed her gaze and his eyes went wide with shock. Standing on the edge of the porch was a misty form of Lupa. With her silver eyes and warm chocolatey red coat, Jason was sure it was the she-wolf goddess. She glared at Jason and shook her head, baring her teeth. _Danger_. _Leave now_. She said it three times in his head, howled silently at the moon, and disappeared into tendrils of mist.

_Leave now_. She had said. Jason contemplated going back. But the door had opened.

"What do you want?"

An old man stood in the doorway. He was tall and thin, with silver hair. His skin was light caramel brown like an Egyptian and he had wide yellow eyes like a cat. He held a kerosene lamp in his hand that was probably the source of light from inside the shack. He wore brown cotton overalls and a stained button shirt.

Piper gripped his hand and Jason had to swallow before he spoke. "Sorry, sir," Jason hoped his voice wasn't as shaky as he thought. "We're travellers and we're kinda lost-"

"Travellers, eh?" the old man repeated, scratching his chin.

Jason took a deep breath before continuing. "Yes. We've crashed-I mean-lost our ride, and we were wondering if you could tell us a way to get out of here and get to the main road."

"Not too many roads around here, sonny."

"Jason," Piper gripped his hand even tighter. She took a shaky breath but didn't say anything else.

The old man's eyes became low as he raised his eyebrows.

"Why don't you two come inside?" he said. "It's better to give you a lay of the land in the morning. I don't want you to get lost in the fields. They can be very, very confusing. And you're such young heroes-I mean, young lads-come in."

Piper looked at Jason anxiously. Jason didn't know how to react. Jason barely noticed the slip of tongue, whereas Piper must have heard it. "Jason,"

But before Piper could finish, the old man whacked Jason across the head with his lantern, and he fell to the porch, only half-conscious. He could barely knew what happened after that. He could only see a fuzzy hand reaching out to grab Piper in a vice like grip that he should have been too weak to accomplish by the look of him. Piper was struggling. "Let me go! What are you doing?"

"Ah, a daughter of Aphrodite," the old man's voice was getting softer as Jason drifted into unconsciousness. "Charmspeak won't work on me. No. I have been trained to deal with your kind."

"My kind?" Piper repeated.

Now it all sounded like mumbling.

"All will be answered in due course," said the old man. "But right now, my patron asks of a great service of me and I mustn't let her down."

Jason desperately wanted to stand up and save Piper, but he couldn't even feel his legs or his head. "What is that?" Piper was still struggling.

The old man smiled crookedly. "You will kill the son of Jupiter."

And after that, Jason passed out cold.

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><p><strong>Okay, that old man dude, is really from Greek mythology. Trust me. You'll find out who he really is later on.<strong>

**Next chapter's Leo! Yay! My first Leo chapter. Ever. I can't wait.**

**Pls REVIEW!**

**Moonlite Artemis**


	17. XVII Leo

**Happy Lunar New Year! :) In case you haven't figured it out, yes, I'm Chinese. **

**Neways, I'm so super sorry for the wait of tis chapter. I hope you'll all feel that your wait was worthwhile. :) Enuf with the long A/N, pls enjoy my first Leo chapter. **

**P.S. Pls read the next A/N at the bottom of the page. **

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><p>XVII<p>

LEO

**TECHINCALLY, THIS WASN'T the **worst thing that had happened to Leo before.

Of course, falling from a few hundred feet in the air after a giant warship malfunctioned was _so_ not fun, but seriously, Leo had been in way worse situations than this. Life or death situations like fighting Enceladus, falling from the Grand Canyon, etc. etc. You know, the usual demigod thing. It happens to all demigods. Most of them at the very least.

If he was totally honest with himself, he didn't get why the ship suddenly fell out of the sky. The controls suddenly malfuctioned, either caused by Gaia or some monster/person who works for her, or it was a mistake. But they couldn't make mistakes, not now.

The only good thing about his current situation was that he crash-landed with Percy Jackson. Percy Jackson! The super cool totally _freakin' _amazing fantastic brilliant hero of Camp Half-Blood, and of course, Olympus.

When Leo, Jason and Piper were in Camp Half-Blood, they learned so much about the guy. About all the stuff he did that earned him major camp cred. Even Jason was impressed. Everyone knew about him, except maybe the new kids, but they learned soon enough. Leo had waited so long to meet him. What Leo couldn't get though, was how Jason and Percy were as similar as everyone said they were.

Sure, both of them had done amazing stuff in their lives, they're great leaders and _blah blah blah _and all that. But Jason was a Roman, which made stricter and more...proud. Yeah, as a Roman he was all about honour, discipline, and he always came with a plan. Well, most of the time. Percy was more laidback and didn't really care what other people thought about him. And he, on the other hand, was impulsive. He was all like, _Chill out, man. We're cool_. Come to think about it, Annabeth was so different from him too that Leo didn't know how they even started liking each other. Piper always told him how her brothers and sisters awed over Percy and Annabeth's relationship and their infamous underwater kiss. After Leo tried to picture that image of the Hero of Olympus kissing his girlfriend underwater, he decided it was too weird and made a promise to himself never to think about love. After all, that was what the Aphrodite kids were for.

However, talking about children of Hades/Pluto was another matter. Although Hazel was nice, she was freaking Leo out a little with the freaky questions that she asked. She did seem embarrassed after she asked, so maybe she didn't really mean to say anything. Maybe it was just a slip of tongue.

Somehow the ship managed to stay intact after a fall like that. Leo didn't dare imagine what had happened if the ship did break apart; he spent months building it. But, true, the Celestial Bronze would have been hard to break. Leo spit an apple out of his mouth and groaned as he rubbed his head where it hit the ground. He hoped he didn't just get a lump on his head. That would be really embarrassing.

Percy's head poked out from behind the deck. He jumped down onto the grassy land beside Leo. Now he was wearing his Camp Half-Blood shirt. He rubbed his eyes. "What was that all about? I could barely keep the ship from breaking into pieces."

"Malfunction. Something's wrong with the controls I think." Leo scratched his head.

Percy frowned. His hand automatically moved towards his pocket, where Riptide was kept. "We need to find the rest. They've probably gone to find shelter since it's dark. Monsters could be crawling over the orchard and a couple of powerful demigods are bound to attract attention."

"Wait, what about the ship?" Leo looked up at its magnificent view.

"We need to find the others first. That's what Annabeth would done-" Percy faltered, before shaking his head and swallowing. Leo had no idea how to interact with organic life-forms, so he simply kept his mouth shut. Percy cleared his throat. "So, how _do_ you find a couple of demigods in a place like this?"

Leo opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut off by an unfamiliar voice. "Ahoy matties!" The two of them looked down to see an old man walking towards them with a kerosene lantern in his hand. "Are you gonna stay in that tree house all day?"

Leo grinned. "Tree house?" He loved the Mist. It twisted mortal minds like puzzle pieces. "Come on, he might have seen the others."

Once off the _Argo II_, Leo got a closer look at the old man, with his silver hair and brown overalls. The kerosene lantern with its flickering flame glowed merrily behind the glass. Leo couldn't help but admire the lantern's craftsmanship, though he felt he could've built something way better. His lantern would've been cast iron, with cool attachments and a dial that intensified the heat and light of the flame.

"I'm Leo. This is Percy." Leo introduced. "We're uh...travelling, and we're wondering if you saw anyone in your orchard."

"Oh yeah," said the old man, scratching his stubbly chin, thoughtfully. "I did. Their back at my shack now, getting comfortable for the night. I'm Busiris by the way. It's nice to meet you two. Please, follow me."

Busiris shuffled off through the night. Leo followed. Then he realised Percy was hesitating. "Perce, come on."

Percy looked uneasy. "I dunno..."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Come on, he can't be all bad. He's just a harmless old man."

Percy looked at Busiris' back. "I know, it's just, his name...it sounds...familiar. I think Annabeth told me something about him before."

"Come on...besides, we don't have another choice."

Percy shrugged and followed dully.

They followed Busiris through the orchard.

It wasn't a long walk from the _Argo II_ and Leo thought it would be easy for them to retrace their steps if they needed to get back to the ship. Leo glanced ahead and saw the little shack with no visible light. It gave him an eerie chill. Being a demigod, he had to learn to act on his instincts. He was just about to stop, when Percy did.

"Percy, LOOK OUT!" Leo yelled.

Busiris had turned around and was about to deck Percy with his lantern, but Percy was amazingly swift. He dodged the strike, side-stepped and knocked the old man off his feet. "Argh!"

As he got up, Percy uncapped Riptide and Leo summoned a hammer from his magical tool belt. Percy nodded his approval. At that point Hazel and Frank burst through the bushes. "Percy! Leo!" Hazel voice rang through the air as she unsheathed her _spatha_, while Frank pulled out his bows.

Percy pointed his sword at him. "Busiris! I know who you are! You were an Egyptian king who sacrificed heroes. When Hercules journeyed through your orchard, you kidnapped him while he was looking for golden apples. You were going to sacrifice him, but...but..." Percy snapped his fingers in the air a few times. "But he killed you instead." Percy looked a little smug that he managed to remember the facts. Leo could hear him mumble, "Annabeth would be so proud of me."

"Blasted son of Zeus!" spat Busiris. "No worries. My patron has restored me."

"The Doors of Death," Frank gritted his teeth.

"I shall continue to sacrifice heroes," continued Busiris. "So many of them have wandered through my orchard on their quests. And so many more will soon."

Frank notched an arrow, aimed straight at him and fired. His arrow should have hit the old man dead on, but he was fast too. He raised the lantern just in time and knocked the arrow into a nearby apple tree.

"Where are Jason and Piper?" Hazel demanded. Percy swung his sword at him threateningly to back her up.

"The son of Jupiter and daughter of Aphrodite are tied up at the moment," said Busiris. "When she kills him, the demigods of Camp Jupiter will avenge him and lay waste to the Greeks of Camp Half-Blood. Demigods will not unite like the prophecy thinks. Yes, half-bloods, I know about your fabled prophecy from that blasted Oracle. My patron's plan has been put into full effect and you shall not stop her this time. My giant officer has made sure that his plan won't fail!"

"Giant officer?" said Leo. "So, you're in league with the giants too. Buster, I'm gonna give you a good hammering!"

"Leo," Percy shot him a look. "Go get Jason and Piper. Make sure they're alright."

"We'll get him." Frank kept his eyes fixed on Busiris. Hazel just nodded.

Leo was a little upset they didn't want to fight with him. But he needed to save his friends. He nodded and headed towards the shack while the others advanced on Busiris.

Leo burst through the front door of the shack and lit a ball of fire in his hand. The one room shack was dirty with a bronze altar placed against the back wall where Jason lay unconscious tied down by a thick golden rope. He had a nice soft lump on his forehead.

Piper was on the floor, her hands and feet, shackled by celestial bronze. She was struggling to get free of her bonds when Leo arrived.

"Leo!" cried Piper. "I've never been so happy to see you in my life."

"I bet," he said. He looked over at Jason and tried to wake up, but he mumbled something about grass and thunder. Leo pointed his finger at the ropes and a bullet of white fire appeared, flaring almost like a blow torch. The golden ropes began to slowly loosen as they heated up and they fell away from Jason. Suddenly, his eyes flicked open and he rose from the altar.

"Leo," Jason said, weakly.

"Sup, man," said Leo, slapping him on the shoulder. "Almost got sacrificed, I see. What would you two do without me?"

"Nothing, obviously," said Piper, still struggling. "Now, get me out of these things!"

"I have the right tool for that," said Leo, pulling out a screwdriver from his tool belt. He went to work and in seconds, the shackles fell away, just as a scream rang out from outside the shack.

"Percy, Hazel and Frank!" he said, helping Piper to her feet.

We have to help them," said Piper, pulling out Katoptris.

"Looks like we got some more rescuing to do," said Leo.

"I couldn't agree more," said Jason, raising his _gladius. _

The three of them charged out of the shack and out into the night for battle.

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><p><strong>See? The old dude is from Greek mythology. I wasn't lying.<strong>

**You can guess who screamed, but you won't know the truth until I update again, so have fun guessing! I'm sure somebody(or _somebodies_) will figure it out. After all, there's only 3 of them fighting out there(for now). == So seriously, there's no need...**

**You can also guess whose chapter I'm going to do next after Leo's.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I had fun writing it.**

**Thx for reading and as usual, REVIEW!**

**Moonlite Artemis**


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